SINGAPORE, May 18 (Reuters) - Singapore will resume

flying its F-16 fleet after suspending training when one of the

jets crashed earlier this month, the defence ministry on

Saturday.

The defence ministry said the May 8 crash was due to the

plane's pitch rate gyroscopes giving erroneous inputs to the

flight control computer.

"This led to the pilot being unable to control the plane at

take-off," the statement said. The pilot ejected successfully.

F-16 fighter jets are fitted with four such gyroscopes. A

simultaneous failure is very rare occurrence and a first for

Singapore's fleet, the ministry said.

It added that all pitch rate gyroscopes will be checked and

cleared before flights resume, and that the air force and F-16

manufacturer Lockheed Martin ( LMT ) will look into the specific

cause behind the malfunction.

The May crash was the first one for a Singapore fighter jet

since 2004 when an F-16C went down during a night training

mission in the U.S. state of Arizona, killing the 25-year-old

pilot, according to local media CNA.