High Winds Flipped over and Crashed This Thunderbird F-16D

Dario Leone

Security, Americas

Thankfully no one was killed.

According to the Dayton Daily News, a CareFlight unit responded to the crash and removed the pilot, Capt. Erik Gonsalves, from the aircraft 90 minutes after the crash. The passenger, Sgt. Kenneth Cordova of Littleton, was rescued about 20 minutes later.

As reported by Fox31 in an article brought to my attention by The Aviation Geek Club reader Jared Smith, an F-16D belonging to the USAF Thunderbirds carrying a passenger was flipped over by a strong gust of wind on Jun. 23, 2017

It seems the F-16D Fighting Falconcrashed into the grass as it taxied to the staging area following a performance at the Dayton Air Show at around 12:20 p.m.

Noteworthy before the rollover at Dayton International Airport, the F-16 flew the unfriendly skies as gusts reached up to 30 mph and heavy rain showered the area, sometimes pouring down as much as two inches per hour.

According to the Dayton Daily News, a CareFlight unit responded to the crash and removed the pilot, Capt. Erik Gonsalves, from the aircraft 90 minutes after the crash. The passenger, Sgt. Kenneth Cordova of Littleton, was rescued about 20 minutes later.