[oh8eleven]

Officials have confirmed Thursday that the pilot ... was fatally injured. No word on whether officials have found the pilot's body.
If they have no body, how can they confirm he's dead?

[smokingfrog]

The Air Force has secured the crash scene and remains onsite. Witnessess say they heard the crash from miles away. Scott Jones, a contracted worker for Dominion Power was with his crew in the woods almost two miles away when they heard the blast. They say they heard two explosions.

At this point, no parachute or ejection seat has been found among the wreckage.

An EMS official who wishes to remain unnamed says the crash site is “nothing but a charred black hole.” He says the only thing found near the site was small bits of debris, a tire wheel and jet fuel.

[smokingfrog]

It could be there is no “body” but they may have cadaver dogs that can pick up something.

[Nervous Tick]

>> how can they confirm he’s dead?

They didn’t confirm he was dead; they confirmed he was “fatally injured”.

:-o

[pfflier]

A story I read earlier said they found parts of the ejection seat at the crash site. He would have still been strapped in it if it was there.

You have to see a high speed jet crash to understand.

[Bigg Red]

My guess is they want to say as little as possible right now out of respect for the man’s loved ones. “No word”, I suspect is like “no comment” here.