GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) — While it's still unknown what caused the F-16 military fighter jet to crash Thursday south of Grawn in Grand Traverse County, many people want to know what military pilots are taught if they know their plane is going down. Scott Dennis is a retired Air Force Brigadier General and is giving more insight and perspective on the incident.
Dennis had a 30-year career as an F-16 pilot while in the Air Force and knows the plane well. He said that after an engine failure, pilots are taught to keep flying the airplane and try to restart the engine. If that doesn’t work, it’s time to start preparing to eject. "We can trim the airplane such that once we eject, the airplane won't keep flying for an undetermined amount of time; it'll kind of pitch down,” said Dennis.
“And, I don't know if this pilot had that opportunity or not, but we have a checklist to go through to kind of minimize both safety to the pilot and minimize impact on the ground." Dennis said the Air Force will establish two boards to investigate the crash and that it could be six months to a year before it is known what caused the F-16 to go down.
