The plane was on a routine training mission
FALLON – The U.S. Navy reported an F-16 from the Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center (NAWDC) at Fallon’s Naval Air Station was rescued last week after departing a runway during a routine training mission.
“This coordinated effort, which took precise planning, safely moved the jet back to the runway without any complications,” Navy officials said.
An official with the Naval Air Force in San Diego, Calif., told the Nevada News Group Wednesday that the single-seat F-16 was on a routine training mission at NAS Lemoore (NASL) in central California southwest of Fresno. The F-16, an aggressor jet from Fallon, had been deployed to Lemoore from NAWDC to participate in a routine training mission.
Navy officials said the pilot was not hurt.
A post from the NASL Facebook page states F-16 fighter jets, and their crews from NAWDC frequently fly to Lemoore, called the home of Strike Fighter Wing Pacific, for basic fighter maneuvers, air combat training or in support of exercises off the California coast.
NAWDC operates the F-16s that were initially destined for Pakistan over a decade ago but were stored instead. Half of the F-16s went to the U.S. Air Force and the other half to the Navy. When the F-16s began to arrive in Fallon, the jets sported the Pakistani paint schemes but were slowly re-painted in aggressor markings.
In total, 14 F-16s were delivered to Fallon.
