F-16 from Luke Air Force Base crashes in Arizona 21 Jan 16

[Rifleman62]

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2016/01/21/luke-air-force-base-crashes-arizona/79115390/

F-16 from Luke Air Force Base crashes in Arizona

Paul Giblin, The Republic | azcentral.com 10:40 a.m. MST January 21, 2016

An F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet assigned to Luke Air Force Base crashed at approximately 8:45 a.m. Thursday northwest of the base near the town of Bagdad, Ariz.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known, according to the Air Force.

No other details, such as the nationality and condition of the pilot, were immediately available, said Luke spokeswoman Kiley Dougherty.

More details will be released when they become available, she said.

Some F-16s carry a pilot and a second crew member, but it was not immediately known whether the plane involved in the crash was carrying one or two crew members.

Luke trains both U.S. and allied country pilots in the F-16 and the F-35 Lightning II fighter jets.

Bagdad is about 100 miles from Luke, which is in Glendale (Phoenix).

 

[Rifleman62]

These fellows fly overhead regularly.

Update:

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2016/01/21/luke-air-force-base-crashes-arizona/79115390/

Paul Giblin, The Republic | azcentral.com 2:22 p.m. MST January 21, 2016

Yavapai County authorities found the wreckage of an F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet from Luke Air Force Base early Thursday afternoon, roughly four hours after it was believed to have crashed.

But no information was immediately available about the condition of the pilot or a possible second crew member, said Yavapai County Sheriff's Office spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn.

Local hunters who saw the plane go down directed sheriff's office personnel to a remote site northwest of Wickenburg, D'Evelyn said. A helicopter search-and-rescue crew investigated and located the plane around 12:45 p.m., he said.

Air Force officials were immediately notified, he said.

The jet crashed at approximately 8:45 a.m., according to Luke personnel. Initially, the plane was believed to have gone down near the town of Bagdad, about 100 miles northwest of the base in Glendale. Wickenburg is about 40 miles from the base.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

No other details, such as the nationality of the pilot, were immediately available, said Luke spokeswoman Kiley Dougherty.

Both the Sheriff's Office and the Air Force had aircraft in the area searching for the downed plane throughout the morning, D'Evelyn said.

Governor's office officials are monitoring developments, a spokesman for Gov. Doug Ducey said.

The state dispatched personnel from the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s Hazardous Materials Unit, Explosives Ordinance Disposal Unit and Aviation Unit to assist federal and local officials at the site.

"As further details become available, Arizona stands at the ready to provide any state resources or manpower needed to assist in any and all response and recovery efforts," Ducey spokeswoman Annie Dockendorff said in a statement.

Some F-16s carry a pilot and a second crew member, but it was not immediately known whether the downed plane was carrying one or two crew members, Dougherty said.

Luke trains both U.S. and allied country pilots in the F-16 and the F-35 Lightning II fighter jets.

Brig. Gen. Scott Pleus, 56th Fighter Wing commander at Luke, has established a team to conduct a preliminary investigation into the incident.

The jet is the third F-16 affiliated with Luke to crash in less than three years.

On Nov. 25, 2015, a Fighting Falcon crashed in New Mexico. A student pilot who was stationed at Holloman Air Force Bace in southern New Mexico safely ejected from the plane.

The $22.7 million plane crashed on a military range about 45 miles north of Holloman. The F-16 was part of the 54th Fighter Group, which is under the command of the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke.

The Air Force has not released the results of an investigation into the cause of the incident. Those results typically come about six months after a crash.

On June 26, 2013, an instructor pilot and a student pilot safely ejected from a two-seat, single-engine F-16 before it flew unmanned in a roughly nine-mile circle northwest of Luke.

The plane circled back, lost altitude and cratered into a dirt field just outside the base. Investigators determined three small birds flew into the jet’s engine, resulting in “degraded engine performance” shortly after takeoff on a so-called "touch and go" landing and takeoff exercise.

Officials blamed the crash on the instructor pilot’s handling of the aircraft after the bird strikes. The president of the safety board team looking into the incident “found by clear and convincing evidence that the cause of the mishap was a decision-making error by the (instructor pilot),” the investigative report stated.

The Air Force has not released the names of the pilots involved in the earlier incidents.

Wickenburg is located along Hassayampa River at the northern edge of Maricopa County in central Arizona. Its population is about 6,300 and is a popular tourist town that highlights is storied mining history.

The Bagdad townsite and nearby copper and molybdenum mine are owned by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold. Molybdenum is a mineral that's used to strengthen steel. The town is home to approximately 2,500 people

 

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http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/2016/01/22/taiwanese-pilot-likely-found-dead-site-f-16-crash-arizona/79158046/

Luke AFB: Likely remains of Taiwanese pilot found at site of F-16 crash in Arizona

By Stephen Losey, Air Force Times 11:49 a.m. EST January 22, 2016

The Taiwanese pilot of an F-16 Fighting Falcon that crashed in Arizona on Thursday has likely been found dead.

Officials from Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, where the student pilot from the Taiwanese Air Force was training, said in a release late Thursday that an interim safety board found human remains at the crash site. The coroner will conduct additional tests for a final, positive identification.

"While this is not conclusive, it is another indication the pilot did not survive the accident," Luke said.

The F-16 was also from Taiwan.

Base officials said the man was flying solo and engaged in air-to-air combat training with an instructor when his F-16 went down for still unknown reasons. The jet crashed at about 8:45 a.m. local time north of Luke, near Bagdad, Arizona.

"Our thoughts and focus continue to be on the family and giving them our full support during this difficult time," Brig. Gen. Scott Pleus, commander of the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke, said in the release.

Pleus said at a late afternoon news conference that the student pilot had been in a training program for the past six months at Luke, which is a major pilot-training base for the Air Force and foreign military services.

In a release, the 56th said local authorities found the crash site and notified the wing.

Dwight D'Evelyn, a spokesman for the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office in Arizona, said in a phone interview that a Yavapai deputy sheriff flying a rescue helicopter spotted the crash site at about 12:40 p.m. local time, roughly four hours after the jet crashed. D'Evelyn said the sheriff's office got a tip from hunters in the area who saw a plume of smoke, which led officials to the crash site.

D'Evelyn said the jet crashed about 5 miles southwest of Bagdad in a very hilly area.

The Fighting Falcon first flew in 1976 and is known for its maneuverability and capability in both air-to-air and air-to-ground combat. The F-16 played a key role in Operation Desert Storm, the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War.

 

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http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/glendale/2016/01/22/taiwanese-pilot-fatal-arizona-f-16-crash-father-2/79173600/

Taiwanese pilot in fatal Arizona F-16 crash was father of 2

Paul Giblin, The Republic | azcentral.com 5:20 p.m. MST January 22, 2016

Taiwanese media have identified the fighter jet pilot who died in a military training exercise in Arizona on Thursday as Taiwanese air force Maj. Kao Ting-cheng, a husband and father of two.

Kao was a 2007 graduate of Taiwan's air force academy, according to Focus Taiwan, an English-language outlet of the Central News Agency, a Taipei-based news outlet. The publication attributed Taiwan's Air Force Command as the source of the information concerning the pilot and reported that he was "around 30" years old.

U.S. Air Force officials declined to identify the pilot, who died during an air-to-air combat training exercise near the town of Bagdad.

The Taiwanese pilot was flying a Taiwanese-owned F-16 Fighting Falcon and was training with a U.S. instructor pilot when the plane went down around 8:45 a.m. Thursday, according to officials at Luke Air Force Base, where the pilot was stationed. Neither the Taiwanese pilot nor the U.S. instructor in another F-16 were carrying live ammunition when the accident occurred, said Luke spokeswoman Kiley Dougherty.

Yavapai County Sheriff's Office search-and-rescue personnel found the wreckage four hours later. Airmen secured the site on relatively flat terrain and discovered human remains Thursday night.

The accident occurred about 80 miles northwest of the base in Glendale, where the pilot had trained for about six months with other Taiwanese pilots, said Brig. Gen. Scott Pleus, commander of the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke.

U.S. and foreign military pilots regularly train together on F-16s and F-35 Lightning II fighter jets at Luke.

The cause of the crash is under investigation, Pleus said during a press conference Thursday evening.

Experienced pilot

Kao was an experienced pilot with more than 800 flight hours to his credit, according to Focus Taiwan. He is survived by a wife and two children, including a son who was born late last year, the news agency reported. His mother traveled to the U.S. this month to help his wife.

The pilot's father, Kao Ching-lin, told Taiwanese media that his son had dreamed of being a pilot since he was in high school, Focus Taiwan reported. Despite the father's objection, he  joined the Taiwanese air force and qualified for training in the U.S. because of his proficiency in English.

Kao was the family's only son, said the father, who lives in northern Taiwan.

David Yang, the defense attache for the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, said, "We are very, very sad to learn of that tragedy."

He told The Arizona Republic that the Taiwanese government is appreciative of the U.S. government for providing immediate assistance to the pilot's family, who lives near the Glendale base.

Taiwan's defense minister personally directed Taiwanese officials in the United States to provide full support to the pilot's family, Yang said. "We hope we can proceed with everything smoothly and bring his body back to Taiwan," he said.

Kao did not eject from the single-seat, single-engine jet before it crashed, Yang said. It would be improper to discuss other details about the accident before an investigation is complete, he said.

Taiwanese investigators will work with U.S. investigators to determine the cause of the incident, Yang said.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office performs many of the functions that an embassy would perform.

Officials offer condolences

On Thursday evening, Pleus said the loss of life was felt across Luke.

"One of the things about fighter pilots is they are a band of brothers and sisters, and we treat each other as family. Our focus right now is about the family and making sure they're supported," he said.

On Friday, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who serves as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, tweeted: "Praying for the pilot of F-16 crash in Bagdad, #Arizona, — appreciate efforts of first responders, @LukeAFB & entire community."

U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., issued a statement saying, “My condolences go out to the family of the pilot and to the people of Taiwan. I will continue to monitor developments out of Luke Air Force Base as the investigation into the crash moves forward.”

U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, said, “I offer my heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the Taiwanese pilot who lost his life in yesterday’s F-16 crash. Our nation will keep them, and the nation of Taiwan, in our hearts during this difficult time.”

Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers tweeted: "We are saddened by the tragic Taiwan F16 crash yesterday near Bagdad, AZ. Our hearts go out to the pilot's family."