Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Baltimore Sun
February 22, 2008 Planes went down in Gulf of Mexico, killing one pilot
By Associated Press
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Investigators were searching in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday for debris from two F-15C Eagles that could help determine the cause of a pilot's death during a training exercise.
Training flights from Eglin Air Force Base, where the two flights originated, have been temporarily stopped while the base mourns.
The pilot of the second single-seat F-15C Eagle was released from a hospital, Franks said. The other pilot's family was told of his death late Wednesday.
Both pilots had ejected and were found by rescuers Wednesday night.
The cause of the collision about 35 miles south of Tyndall Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle was not immediately known, officials said. It will be investigated by an Air Force board.
The training exercise emphasized "basic maneuvers and tactics," said Col. Todd Harmer, commander of the 33rd Training Wing.
Franks said the pilots do the routine training maneuvers four days a week.
After the crash, a Coast Guard rescue jet located the pilot who survived and radioed the location to the Nina, a commercial snapper and grouper fishing boat that picked him up.
Thomas Niquet, the boat's captain, said he found the man in the middle of an oil slick after the boat passed through some of the crash debris.
"He was able to talk to us, but he was weak. He had his vest on and it was inflated, his parachute was right there by him. He had been there in the water for quite a while, but he didn't have any injuries," Niquet said.
"He wanted some water and we covered him up with a blanket. He was worried a lot about the other pilot."
The surviving pilot told rescuers he saw the other pilot eject but lost him in the clouds. He told them the approximate location for the second pilot, who was found by a Coast Guard helicopter.
February 22, 2008 Planes went down in Gulf of Mexico, killing one pilot
By Associated Press
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Investigators were searching in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday for debris from two F-15C Eagles that could help determine the cause of a pilot's death during a training exercise.
Training flights from Eglin Air Force Base, where the two flights originated, have been temporarily stopped while the base mourns.
The pilot of the second single-seat F-15C Eagle was released from a hospital, Franks said. The other pilot's family was told of his death late Wednesday.
Both pilots had ejected and were found by rescuers Wednesday night.
The cause of the collision about 35 miles south of Tyndall Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle was not immediately known, officials said. It will be investigated by an Air Force board.
The training exercise emphasized "basic maneuvers and tactics," said Col. Todd Harmer, commander of the 33rd Training Wing.
Franks said the pilots do the routine training maneuvers four days a week.
After the crash, a Coast Guard rescue jet located the pilot who survived and radioed the location to the Nina, a commercial snapper and grouper fishing boat that picked him up.
Thomas Niquet, the boat's captain, said he found the man in the middle of an oil slick after the boat passed through some of the crash debris.
"He was able to talk to us, but he was weak. He had his vest on and it was inflated, his parachute was right there by him. He had been there in the water for quite a while, but he didn't have any injuries," Niquet said.
"He wanted some water and we covered him up with a blanket. He was worried a lot about the other pilot."
The surviving pilot told rescuers he saw the other pilot eject but lost him in the clouds. He told them the approximate location for the second pilot, who was found by a Coast Guard helicopter.