F-16 pilot isn't hurt in crash $27M fighter jet goes down; it's first in Utah since 2002
By Matthew D. LaPlante
The Salt Lake Tribune
Ron Taylor looked up to see a helicopter flying east over Antelope Island on Thursday afternoon and let out a sigh of relief.
The medical chopper overhead meant the pilot who ejected from an F-16 fighter jet before it crashed into the bay had been found.
Taylor, the Antelope Island State Park manager, had been asked earlier in the day to head out to Carrington Island, about 18 miles west of his station, to help in the search but had been called off when other rescuers reached the crash location first.
Hill Air Force Base officials said the $27 million fighter jet went down at 2:11 p.m. The pilot ejected safely, landing in an area of mixed mud and sand, and was reportedly in good condition, with some "bumps and bruises," said Col. James Post, 388th vice commander.
The pilot, who had not been identified, was part of a four-jet training mission over the northern Utah Test and Training Range, involving pilots from the 421st Fighter Squadron, a unit of the 388th Fighter Wing. The squadron is scheduled to deploy to the Middle East in the next few weeks.
Post said the aviator, who was flying at more than 350 miles per hour at about 2,000 feet altitude, had been struggling to diagnose engine troubles for some time when he made the decision to eject.
An emergency response team from Hill responded to the crash location, about two miles east of Carrington Island, near the area of the Great Salt Lake where the Tooele and Box Elder county borders meet. Post said the crashed aircraft was carrying some small munitions when it went down.
A board of officers will convene to investigate the cause of the crash, the Air Force reported. Air operations at Hill have been suspended until a preliminary investigation is completed.
The crash was at least the second involving a U.S. Air Force Fighting Falcon this month.
The Defense Department reported that U.S. Navy divers on Wednesday were searching the ocean floor, off South Korea's west coast, for the wreckage of an F-16 that crashed there March 14. That aircraft's pilot also ejected safely and was rescued by the South Korean Air Force.
The last reported crash involving an F-16 from Hill occurred in June 2003 in Iraq, when a 388th pilot ejected safely following a power loss to the aircraft's single engine.
It has been more than three years since the last fatal crash involving an F-16 in Utah. In the fall of 2002, two pilots - one veteran reservist and one young active duty officer - were killed in separate training accidents occurring within weeks of each other.
A spate of crashes at Hill in 1998 prompted the replacement of the then-wing commander. During that year, one pilot was killed and others injured in five accidents involving six planes.
The F-16 is a single-seat fighter aircraft, it is capable of flying at more than 1,550 mph and can make turns withstanding up to nine times the force of gravity.
mlaplante@sltrib.com
---
Salt Lake Tribune correspondent Dana Rimington contributed to this report.
Link here: http://www.sltrib.com/ci_3658029