F-16 Collides With F-4 Phantom During 1982 Training Mission

✈️F-16🏷️Crash, Midair / Near miss▪️3:48

Flight Follower Editorial Team

Timeline

DACT engagement

Head-on closure ~Mach 2

F-4 wing strikes F-16

Gearbox damage

Ejection ~23,000 ft

Unmanned F-16 descends

An F-16 and an F-4 Collide During Dissimilar Air Combat Training

On December 15, 1982, a US Air Force F-16A was flying a Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT) sortie against US Marine Corps F-4 Phantoms when one of the Phantoms and the F-16 met almost head-on. Both jets were travelling at around Mach 1, so they were closing on each other at roughly twice the speed of sound. At that speed there is almost no time to see the other aircraft and react.

The Phantom's right wing sliced into the underside of the F-16. The F-16 pilot, Capt. Daryl Hower, ejected at about 23,000 feet and came through with only minor injuries. His aircraft, now without a pilot, drifted down and crashed onto a muddy tidal flat.

The surviving aircraft record identifies the F-16 as 81-0724. F-16.net records the aircraft as an F-16A Block 15E assigned to the 35th Tactical Fighter Squadron and documents the December 15, 1982 DACT collision with a USMC F-4J. A contemporary UPI report also identifies Capt. Daryl Hower and the combat-tactics training mission involving another F-16 and two F-4 Phantoms.

A Phantom Patched Up as a Repair-Training Exercise

The collision geometry is the defining fact. The F-4’s right wing cut through the lower fuselage of the F-16 at about 35 degrees while the aircraft were approaching head-on at roughly Mach 1 each. The combined closure rate was therefore approximately Mach 2. Damage to the F-16’s engine gearbox made recovery impossible, and Hower ejected at about 23,000 feet.

The Phantom That Survived

The accident had a second life after the collision. The F-4 survived sufficiently for Marine maintainers to use it as a combat-repair training opportunity. The aircraft record also identifies the Phantom as BuNo 155746 / DR-03 of VMFA-312 ‘Checkerboards.’ The later training change—an increase in forward-hemisphere IR missile-shot minimum range to 9,000 feet—is the most important operational legacy reported for the mishap.

Tracing BuNo 155746 Through the Record

The surviving Phantom is an important part of the story. F-16.net records identify it as BuNo 155746 / DR-03 of VMFA-312 ‘Checkerboards’ and note that photographs exist of the damaged Phantom awaiting repair and of the F-16 remains in a hangar. The Marine Corps reportedly used the Phantom as a combat-repair training opportunity. It is a rare case of a mid-air collision producing a useful training exercise for the maintainers who repaired the jet.

Research and reconstruction

Flight Follower Editorial Team

This reconstruction was researched from official investigation records where they exist, the original air traffic control recording, and contemporary reporting. The aircraft movement, timeline and written account were assembled independently by Flight Follower. Where an investigation is open or no probable cause has been published, the account says so rather than offering one.

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Sources and investigation material

Accident Facts

Aircraft: F-16
Category: Crash, Midair / Near miss
Reconstruction: 3:48

Audio from the original air traffic control recording, sourced from public recordings and released investigation records. The reconstruction, animation and written account are our own.