Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
March 16, 2008
PARKER, Ariz. (AP) — The pilot of an F-16C fighter jet that crashed in a rugged area of western Arizona was killed when his plane went down, Air Force officials confirmed on Saturday.
The student pilot was practicing air-to-air combat with another F-16 from Luke Air Force Base at about noon on Friday when his plane crashed, said a spokeswoman for the base, Mary Jo May. Aircraft spent hours trying to find the wreckage, which was spotted late Friday about 80 miles northwest of Phoenix.
Ms. May said rescuers could reach the site only by helicopter and arrived there at daybreak on Saturday. They found the pilot’s parachute and some of his gear about 150 feet from an impact crater. It took several hours for the Air Force to confirm that he had died in the crash.
The pilot, whose identity had not been released pending notification of relatives, was part of the 62nd Fighter Squadron, one of eight squadrons at the base. The base, in Glendale, is the world’s largest F-16 training base, with about 185 F-16s.
There have been 17 other crashes of Luke-based F-16s since 1998, and only one of those resulted in a fatality, Ms. May said. That crash happened in May 2004, when a pilot with the Singapore Air Force died after his jet went down during a training mission at an Air Force bombing range in southwest Arizona.
The most recent crashes came in 2006. A pilot ejected safely from an F-16 in April 2006 after the lone engine on the jet exploded just after takeoff from the base. The aircraft came down in a cornfield.
Nearly nine months later, a two-seat F-16 crashed during a training mission at the same range where the Singapore pilot died. The pilot and instructor bailed out safely.
March 16, 2008
PARKER, Ariz. (AP) — The pilot of an F-16C fighter jet that crashed in a rugged area of western Arizona was killed when his plane went down, Air Force officials confirmed on Saturday.
The student pilot was practicing air-to-air combat with another F-16 from Luke Air Force Base at about noon on Friday when his plane crashed, said a spokeswoman for the base, Mary Jo May. Aircraft spent hours trying to find the wreckage, which was spotted late Friday about 80 miles northwest of Phoenix.
Ms. May said rescuers could reach the site only by helicopter and arrived there at daybreak on Saturday. They found the pilot’s parachute and some of his gear about 150 feet from an impact crater. It took several hours for the Air Force to confirm that he had died in the crash.
The pilot, whose identity had not been released pending notification of relatives, was part of the 62nd Fighter Squadron, one of eight squadrons at the base. The base, in Glendale, is the world’s largest F-16 training base, with about 185 F-16s.
There have been 17 other crashes of Luke-based F-16s since 1998, and only one of those resulted in a fatality, Ms. May said. That crash happened in May 2004, when a pilot with the Singapore Air Force died after his jet went down during a training mission at an Air Force bombing range in southwest Arizona.
The most recent crashes came in 2006. A pilot ejected safely from an F-16 in April 2006 after the lone engine on the jet exploded just after takeoff from the base. The aircraft came down in a cornfield.
Nearly nine months later, a two-seat F-16 crashed during a training mission at the same range where the Singapore pilot died. The pilot and instructor bailed out safely.