The special composite materials of today's modern fighter jet makes even the smallest dent in the aircraft shell overwhelmingly expensive to repair. This does not include downtime for the aircraft, labor costs, or repair crew transport costs. Even dumping the fuel on a forced precautionary landing for one of Dover's C-5 cargo planes can cost tens of thousands of dollars. The loss of a single small jet fighter can be even more costly. Since these aircraft generally rely on small twin turbojet engines, loss of a single engine in flight, particularly at takeoff or landing, is oftentimes catastrophic and frequently results in the total loss of the aircraft.
Pilots are normally able to eject safely but the aircraft is destroyed.
Replacing the jet is exceedingly expensive. The plane fell from the sky in the dense woods just beyond the runway after ingesting five Canada geese into its numbers one and two engines. A huge fireball erupted skyward as the aircraft, loaded with 125,000 pounds of jet fuel, slammed into the ground. Because of this and many other similar events, the U.S. Air Force is certainly mindful of the massive bird strike problem existing at their air bases. With responsibilities for more than 188 air bases, the task faced by the USAF is a monumental one.