Report: Pilot error caused F-16s to collide

By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jan 11, 2010 14:44:25 EST

Pilot error led to the fatal collision of two F-16 Fighting Falcons on an Oct. 15 training mission off the coast of South Carolina, an Air Combat Command report released Monday concluded.

Killed in the accident was Capt. Nicholas Giglio of the 20th Fighter Wing, Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., who was faulted in the report. The other pilot, Capt. Lee Bryant, also from the 20th, safely landed his damaged jet at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C.

Giglio was flying too fast and not paying attention to the position of the other F-16 when he flew into Bryant’s fighter at 10:24 p.m. as the two were returning to Shaw, the accident investigation board report said.

Giglio’s jet struck Bryant’s from behind at a closing speed of about 163 mph. The canopy of Giglio’s jet first hit Bryant’s left rear horizontal stabilizer and then impacted the underside of Bryant’s left wing. Giglio died when his jet struck the wing.

Giglio was an inexperienced F-16 pilot with only 126 hours in F-16 cockpits and 12 hours flying with night-vision goggles. Bryant was an F-16 instructor pilot with 967 F-16 hours.

The investigation found that a malfunctioning radar may have distracted Giglio, but that should not have prevented the captain from safely catching up with Bryant.

Investigation board president Maj. Gen. Stanley Kresge, an F-15 pilot and commander of the Air Force Warfare Center, concluded that Giglio’s “improper power setting, airspeed, flight path … and lack of reaction to an impending crash clearly indicate Giglio was not focused on accomplishing a safe rejoin.”