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Engine problems noted
on plane in fatal crash

Pilots reported smoke, fumes twice before

After an F-16 crashed into a South Carolina neighborhood and killed a man, the Air Force assured the congressman representing the district that the plane had been "trouble free."

AIR FORCE SAFETY CENTER 'I SAW ... THE FIREBALL sweep just to the right of the house that caught fire, and I actually saw the windows blow out of the house," said Capt. Ronald J. Garan, after ejecting from an F-16 that crashed into a residential area in South Carolina.

And, records show, it had been.

The engine was another matter.

A Dayton Daily News examination found that in the months preceding the Sept. 13, 1988, crash, the engine had been on two other F-16s and removed after pilots reported smoke and fumes in their cockpits.

On June 2, 1988, the pilot of an F-16 from Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., reported smoke and fumes coming from behind the pilot's seat, causing the pilot to become nauseated and his eyes to water. To fix the problem, mechanics put a new engine on the plane, and the problem seemed to have been solved.

At least for that plane.

The engine they took off the plane, number 703938, was put on another F-16. And the following month, on July 18, 1988, the pilot of the F-16 which now had engine 703938 reported smoke and fumes in his cockpit, apparently caused by oil leaking from an engine fan.

Three months later, on Sept. 13, 1988, engine 703938 was on still another F-16, piloted by Capt. Ronald J. Garan. Shortly after he raised the landing gear, while the engine had less than six hours flight time since installation, Garan heard a loud bang, followed by an explosion.

"It was a violent explosion that shook the aircraft and knocked my feet off the rudder pedals," he told investigators. "I knew I had to get out of the aircraft so I looked in front of me and I saw trailer parks and houses everywhere."

Garan ejected, and the F-16 crashed into a residential area in Sumter, S.C., near Shaw Air Force Base, setting a house on fire and injuring eight people.

"I saw it (the plane) ignite and saw the fireball sweep just to the right of the house that caught fire, and I actually saw the windows blow out of the house," Garan said.

One of the injured, William Smith, 59, was severely burned over 50 percent of his body. He died two days later.

"You can see where the main fuselage went through the neighborhood," said Michael Brodie, who watched the plane's descent from his pickup truck. "There were holes in several of the houses.

"The first thing I saw was a man running from our right. He was burned bad, real bad. Someone was hollering, 'There is a baby. There is a baby.' "

U.S. Rep. John M. Spratt told a local newspaper reporter at the time that the F-16 was "trouble free." The engine was not specifically mentioned. Spratt's press secretary, Chuck Fant, said in a recent interview that Spratt made the statement after speaking to the Air Force public affairs office.

Maj. General Francis C. Gideon, Jr., commander of the Air Force Safety Center, acknowledged that all three incidents involved engine failures. But, he said, unlike the two prior incidents, there was no report of smoke and fumes in the cockpit prior to the Garan crash.