{"id":24243012,"date":"2026-09-23T14:16:39","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T12:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T14:17:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T12:17:11","slug":"thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunderbird F-16 Crash: A Vane Nobody Could Inspect"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n\r\n<p>The pilot described it as the jet just stopping in mid-air.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>On 3 December 2025 a Thunderbirds F-16 was flying loops and rolls over the California desert. The pilot, an instructor with nearly 1,400 hours, had peeled off from the delta formation during the loops to spare a stiff neck and was waiting to rejoin for the rolls when the engine stalled.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Four minutes later the aircraft was a crater near Trona and the pilot was in a parachute. The report explaining why came out on Monday, and the answer is a single component that nobody could have seen without taking the engine apart.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f4f6f8;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:18px 22px;margin:26px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;font-size:17px;color:#0d1117\">Quick Facts<\/p><table style=\"width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>The crash<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">3 December 2025, near Trona, California, in the desert north-east of Death Valley<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Aircraft<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">F-16 of the USAF Air Demonstration Squadron, the Thunderbirds<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Report released<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">21 September 2026<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Cause<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">One or more turned variable vanes in the high-pressure compressor of the Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-220<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Pilot<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">Instructor pilot with nearly 1,400 flight hours; ejected, minor injuries, discharged the same day<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Time from stall to ejection<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">More than four minutes<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Loss value<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">$33.5 million<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Precedent<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">Same failure destroyed an F-16 near Holloman AFB on 30 April 2024<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">A vane turned the wrong way<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Inside the high-pressure compressor of a Pratt &amp; Whitney F100-PW-220 sit rows of variable stator vanes. They pivot to set the angle at which air arrives at the next row of rotor blades, keeping the compressor stable as the throttle moves. It is one of the more elegant pieces of engineering in a jet engine and it works by being precisely where it is supposed to be.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Investigators found that one or more of those vanes had turned out of alignment. The board describes the consequences as abnormal aerodynamic forces and irregular wake patterns \u2014 which is engineering language for the air arriving at the blades behind it in a shape they were never designed to absorb. The blades take the stress, vanes break or crack, and the engine, in the report\u2019s word, fails catastrophically.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/pratt-whitney-f100-engine-inlet-fan-compressor.jpg\" alt=\"A Pratt and Whitney F100 engine on display showing the inlet fan face\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Pratt &amp; Whitney F100. The fan at the front is the part maintainers can see. The stage that failed sits deep in the core behind it, where a borescope cannot reach. Photo: Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The stage nobody can look at<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>This is where the story stops being about one jet.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Some stages of the F100-PW-220 can be inspected with a borescope. The fifth stage of the core cannot be seen at all without completely disassembling the engine. And Air Force technical orders do not require that disassembly after a foreign object damage event, provided the stages that can be inspected come back clean.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Both engines in this story had FOD events years earlier \u2014 the Thunderbird jet in October 2021, the Holloman aircraft in August 2022. In both cases maintainers found damage in the early inlet fan stages and nothing wrong in the fourth, seventh and eighth. So nothing further happened, because nothing further was required.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;The post-FOD event guidance contains an inherent inability to inspect these specific sections of the engine core. Additionally, the core of the engine is only inspected during scheduled maintenance when a core component reaches its overhaul threshold, leaving time for potential damage to progress undetected.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Accident Investigation Board<\/strong> &mdash; Report on the 3 December 2025 Thunderbird F-16 crash, released 21 September 2026<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The board stopped short of blaming the FOD events outright. It was, in its words, impossible to conclusively determine what turned the vanes. But it was willing to say that the inability to inspect the fifth and sixth stages afterwards substantially contributed to the mishap.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Twenty months earlier, the same failure<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>An F-16 went down near Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, on 30 April 2024. The report on that crash was released in February 2025 and reached the same conclusion: turned variable vanes, catastrophic compressor failure, total loss, pilot ejected.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Pratt &amp; Whitney\u2019s analysis for that board judged the earlier FOD event the probable cause of the vane turning. Other experts disagreed about whether damage could reach a later stage with nothing visible in the stages before it. The board recorded the cause as inconclusive and moved on.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;The F-16 program office is looking at this issue and is working closely with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center\u2019s Propulsion Directorate, the engineering authority for the engine, to correct any deficiencies.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Air Force Life Cycle Management Center<\/strong> &mdash; Spokesperson, February 2025, after the Holloman report<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>That was nineteen months before this report. The Thunderbird investigation cites three known instances of compressor blades fracturing because of turned vanes, and does not identify the third. No other publicly released accident board report from the last decade mentions fractured compressor blades in the F100-PW-220.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tT3he9GBXCE\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>CBS coverage from the day of the crash, before anyone knew what had failed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Four minutes<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>What the pilot did with those four minutes is the part of the report worth reading in full. Speed was traded for altitude, buying height to work with. The secondary engine control was tried and did not help. An engine restart was attempted; it sounded, the pilot said, like things were grinding.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Only then came the ejection. The board\u2019s assessment is unambiguous: ejecting was ultimately the only option which provided a favourable outcome.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Even that was not perfect. The ACES II seat carries hot gas from the ejection initiators to the sequence valves through two hoses, both meant to release automatically. One of them did not, and was torn free instead. It did not change the outcome \u2014 the pilot walked out of hospital the same day, reached first by a local civilian who had watched the aircraft come down, with Navy search and rescue arriving within minutes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The aircraft was written off at $33.5 million. The engine stage that killed it is, as of this week, still one that field maintainers cannot inspect.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><em>Sources: US Air Force Accident Investigation Board reports (3 December 2025 and 30 April 2024); Air &amp; Space Forces Magazine; Air Force Judge Advocate General AIB report library; Pratt &amp; Whitney.<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>What caused the Thunderbirds F-16 crash?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">An Air Force Accident Investigation Board concluded that one or more variable vanes in the high-pressure compressor of the Pratt and Whitney F100-PW-220 engine had turned out of alignment. That created abnormal aerodynamic forces and irregular wake patterns, stressing compressor blades until the engine failed catastrophically.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>When did the Thunderbird F-16 crash happen?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">On 3 December 2025, near Trona, California, in the desert north-east of Death Valley. The accident investigation report was released on 21 September 2026, more than nine months later, which is a normal timeline for a full Air Force accident board.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Did the Thunderbirds pilot survive?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. The pilot, an instructor with nearly 1,400 flight hours, ejected after more than four minutes of trying to recover the aircraft, suffered minor injuries and was discharged from hospital the same day. A local civilian who witnessed the crash reached the pilot first.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why could maintainers not find the fault?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The fifth stage of the F100-PW-220 core cannot be seen without completely disassembling the engine. Some stages can be inspected with a borescope, but not that one. Maintainers looked at the fourth, seventh and eighth stages after earlier foreign object damage events and found nothing wrong.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Has this happened to another F-16?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. An F-16 crashed near Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, on 30 April 2024 from the same cause, and that report was released in February 2025. The Thunderbird report cites three known instances of compressor blades fracturing due to turned vanes, without specifying the third.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Was foreign object damage responsible?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">It is the leading suspicion but not a finding. Both engines had suffered FOD events years earlier, in October 2021 and August 2022. Pratt and Whitney\u2019s analysis for the Holloman board judged FOD the probable cause of the vane turning, but expert opinion varied and both boards called the cause inconclusive.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What is a variable vane in a jet engine?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Variable stator vanes sit between compressor rotor stages and pivot to change the angle at which air meets the next set of blades. That keeps the compressor stable across the throttle range. A vane stuck at the wrong angle disturbs the airflow for everything downstream of it.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Did the ejection seat work correctly?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The pilot got out safely, but not flawlessly. The F-16\u2019s ACES II seat uses two hoses to carry hot gas from the ejection initiators to the sequence valves, and both are meant to disconnect automatically. One did not disconnect properly and was torn free by the violence of the ejection.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What caused the Thunderbirds F-16 crash?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"An Air Force Accident Investigation Board concluded that one or more variable vanes in the high-pressure compressor of the Pratt and Whitney F100-PW-220 engine had turned out of alignment. That created abnormal aerodynamic forces and irregular wake patterns, stressing compressor blades until the engine failed catastrophically.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"When did the Thunderbird F-16 crash happen?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"On 3 December 2025, near Trona, California, in the desert north-east of Death Valley. The accident investigation report was released on 21 September 2026, more than nine months later, which is a normal timeline for a full Air Force accident board.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Did the Thunderbirds pilot survive?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes. The pilot, an instructor with nearly 1,400 flight hours, ejected after more than four minutes of trying to recover the aircraft, suffered minor injuries and was discharged from hospital the same day. A local civilian who witnessed the crash reached the pilot first.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why could maintainers not find the fault?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The fifth stage of the F100-PW-220 core cannot be seen without completely disassembling the engine. Some stages can be inspected with a borescope, but not that one. Maintainers looked at the fourth, seventh and eighth stages after earlier foreign object damage events and found nothing wrong.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Has this happened to another F-16?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes. An F-16 crashed near Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, on 30 April 2024 from the same cause, and that report was released in February 2025. The Thunderbird report cites three known instances of compressor blades fracturing due to turned vanes, without specifying the third.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Was foreign object damage responsible?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"It is the leading suspicion but not a finding. Both engines had suffered FOD events years earlier, in October 2021 and August 2022. Pratt and Whitney\u2019s analysis for the Holloman board judged FOD the probable cause of the vane turning, but expert opinion varied and both boards called the cause inconclusive.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What is a variable vane in a jet engine?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Variable stator vanes sit between compressor rotor stages and pivot to change the angle at which air meets the next set of blades. That keeps the compressor stable across the throttle range. A vane stuck at the wrong angle disturbs the airflow for everything downstream of it.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Did the ejection seat work correctly?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The pilot got out safely, but not flawlessly. The F-16\u2019s ACES II seat uses two hoses to carry hot gas from the ejection initiators to the sequence valves, and both are meant to disconnect automatically. One did not disconnect properly and was torn free by the violence of the ejection.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/f-16-crash-spangdahlem-52nd-fighter-wing-september-2026\/\">F-16 Crashes at Spangdahlem: Second US Falcon Lost in a Week<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/thunderbirds-america-250-largest-military-flyover-july-4-2026\/\">Thunderbirds Ready for Largest Military Flyover in History<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wild-weasels-first-in-last-out-sead-vietnam-ygbsm\/\">Wild Weasels: First In, Last Out<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The accident report on last December\u2019s Thunderbirds F-16 crash blames a turned compressor vane in a stage field maintainers cannot see \u2014 the same failure that destroyed an F-16 in 2024.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":24242653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[664,670],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24243012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military-aviation","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Thunderbird F-16 Crash Report: The Turned Vane | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Thunderbird F-16 crash of December 2025 was caused by a turned compressor vane in an engine stage that field maintainers cannot inspect.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"it_IT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thunderbird F-16 Crash Report: The Turned Vane | MiGFlug\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Thunderbird F-16 crash of December 2025 was caused by a turned compressor vane in an engine stage that field maintainers cannot inspect.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Afterburner - MiGFlug&#039;s Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MiGFlug\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-23T12:16:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-23T12:17:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/usaf-thunderbirds-f-16-delta-formation-six-ship.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"855\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Max Gr\u00fcnwald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@migflug\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@migflug\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Max Gr\u00fcnwald\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Max Gr\u00fcnwald\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/da89e4a5834c9a932ee20751ed75569c\"},\"headline\":\"Thunderbird F-16 Crash: A Vane Nobody Could Inspect\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-23T12:16:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-23T12:17:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1443,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/usaf-thunderbirds-f-16-delta-formation-six-ship.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Military Aviation\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\\\/\",\"name\":\"Thunderbird F-16 Crash Report: The Turned Vane | MiGFlug\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/usaf-thunderbirds-f-16-delta-formation-six-ship.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-23T12:16:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-23T12:17:11+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Thunderbird F-16 crash of December 2025 was caused by a turned compressor vane in an engine stage that field maintainers cannot inspect.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/usaf-thunderbirds-f-16-delta-formation-six-ship.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/usaf-thunderbirds-f-16-delta-formation-six-ship.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":855,\"caption\":\"The Thunderbirds Delta Formation returns from a training sortie, Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Jan. 13, 2015. (U.S. Air Force photo\\\/Tech. Sgt. Manuel J. Martinez)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Startseite\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Thunderbird F-16 Crash: A Vane Nobody Could Inspect\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/\",\"name\":\"Afterburner - MiGFlug's Magazine\",\"description\":\"for those interested in flying military jets and aviation related  topics\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"MiGFlug GmbH\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\\\/cb:0e0_.b970\\\/w:897\\\/h:278\\\/q:mauto\\\/ig:avif\\\/https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/MIGFLUG_LOGO-no-background.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\\\/cb:0e0_.b970\\\/w:897\\\/h:278\\\/q:mauto\\\/ig:avif\\\/https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/MIGFLUG_LOGO-no-background.png\",\"width\":897,\"height\":278,\"caption\":\"MiGFlug GmbH\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/MiGFlug\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/migflug\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/migflug\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/MiGFlug\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/migflug.com\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pinterest.ch\\\/migflug\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/da89e4a5834c9a932ee20751ed75569c\",\"name\":\"Max Gr\u00fcnwald\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4a7af37924a5c24d0712babd0e5eafec09d37b3a41831dd4c4ee30f54ebfc1a7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4a7af37924a5c24d0712babd0e5eafec09d37b3a41831dd4c4ee30f54ebfc1a7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4a7af37924a5c24d0712babd0e5eafec09d37b3a41831dd4c4ee30f54ebfc1a7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Max Gr\u00fcnwald\"},\"description\":\"Max Gr\u00fcnwald writes MiGFlug\u2019s technical deep-dives \u2014 engines, avionics and weapons systems, with every number checked twice.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/afterburner\\\/it\\\/author\\\/maxgruenwald\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Thunderbird F-16 Crash Report: The Turned Vane | MiGFlug","description":"The Thunderbird F-16 crash of December 2025 was caused by a turned compressor vane in an engine stage that field maintainers cannot inspect.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/","og_locale":"it_IT","og_type":"article","og_title":"Thunderbird F-16 Crash Report: The Turned Vane | MiGFlug","og_description":"The Thunderbird F-16 crash of December 2025 was caused by a turned compressor vane in an engine stage that field maintainers cannot inspect.","og_url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/","og_site_name":"Afterburner - MiGFlug's Magazine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MiGFlug\/","article_published_time":"2026-09-23T12:16:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-23T12:17:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":855,"url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/usaf-thunderbirds-f-16-delta-formation-six-ship.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Max Gr\u00fcnwald","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@migflug","twitter_site":"@migflug","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Max Gr\u00fcnwald","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/"},"author":{"name":"Max Gr\u00fcnwald","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/#\/schema\/person\/da89e4a5834c9a932ee20751ed75569c"},"headline":"Thunderbird F-16 Crash: A Vane Nobody Could Inspect","datePublished":"2026-09-23T12:16:39+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-23T12:17:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/"},"wordCount":1443,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/usaf-thunderbirds-f-16-delta-formation-six-ship.jpg","articleSection":["Military Aviation","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/","name":"Thunderbird F-16 Crash Report: The Turned Vane | MiGFlug","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/usaf-thunderbirds-f-16-delta-formation-six-ship.jpg","datePublished":"2026-09-23T12:16:39+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-23T12:17:11+00:00","description":"The Thunderbird F-16 crash of December 2025 was caused by a turned compressor vane in an engine stage that field maintainers cannot inspect.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/usaf-thunderbirds-f-16-delta-formation-six-ship.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/usaf-thunderbirds-f-16-delta-formation-six-ship.jpg","width":1280,"height":855,"caption":"The Thunderbirds Delta Formation returns from a training sortie, Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Jan. 13, 2015. (U.S. Air Force photo\/Tech. Sgt. Manuel J. Martinez)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/thunderbirds-f-16-crash-report-turned-vane-f100-engine-2026\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Startseite","item":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Thunderbird F-16 Crash: A Vane Nobody Could Inspect"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/#website","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/","name":"Afterburner - La rivista di MiGFlug","description":"Per chi \u00e8 interessato a pilotare aerei militari e argomenti correlati all&#039;aviazione.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/#organization","name":"MiGFlug GmbH","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:897\/h:278\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/MIGFLUG_LOGO-no-background.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:897\/h:278\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/MIGFLUG_LOGO-no-background.png","width":897,"height":278,"caption":"MiGFlug GmbH"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MiGFlug\/","https:\/\/x.com\/migflug","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/migflug\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MiGFlug","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/migflug.com\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.ch\/migflug\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/#\/schema\/person\/da89e4a5834c9a932ee20751ed75569c","name":"Max Gr\u00fcnwald","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4a7af37924a5c24d0712babd0e5eafec09d37b3a41831dd4c4ee30f54ebfc1a7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4a7af37924a5c24d0712babd0e5eafec09d37b3a41831dd4c4ee30f54ebfc1a7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4a7af37924a5c24d0712babd0e5eafec09d37b3a41831dd4c4ee30f54ebfc1a7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Max Gr\u00fcnwald"},"description":"Max Gr\u00fcnwald cura gli approfondimenti tecnici di MiGFlug, che spaziano dai motori all&#039;avionica e ai sistemi d&#039;arma, verificando ogni dato due volte.","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/author\/maxgruenwald\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24243012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24243012"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24243012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24243043,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24243012\/revisions\/24243043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24242653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24243012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24243012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24243012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}