Pilot of crashed F-16 was Iraqi student training in US

Sierra Vista Herald ^ | Derek Jordan

[SandRat]

The pilot of the crashed F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft has been identified as Brig. Gen. Rafid Mohammed Hassan by a spokesman for the Iraqi defense minister, according to the Associated Press.

The fate of Hassan remains unknown. Thursday afternoon, U.S. Martha McSally released a statement on the crash. “My thoughts and prayers are with the pilot, his family, and all first responders. Instances like this remind us that those who wear the uniform put their lives on the line every day, and deserve our constant gratitude.”

SIERRA VISTA — The F-16 aircraft that crashed east of the Douglas Municipal Airport late last night belonged to the Iraqi Air Force and was piloted by an Iraqi student pilot on a night training mission. The status of the pilot is still unknown as of noon on Thursday, according to the Arizona Air National Guard. The pilot was flying an F-16 Fighting Falcon and training with the 162nd Arizona Air National Guard when it crashed at about 8:30 p.m. In addition to the several local, state and federal agencies that responded to the crash site Wednesday night, the 305th Air Force Rescue Squadron from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson also dispatched to help locate the pilot. “They arrived about 12:30 a.m.,” said Carol Capas, spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office. “As of 9:41 a.m. they indicated that they still had not located the pilot.” Deputies and sheriff’s volunteers remain on the scene Thursday. “We’re on the scene as the exterior perimeter. We have roadways blocked. Not Leslie Canyon, but two side roads. When the Air Force were able to do an assessment this morning, they moved their resources east of Leslie Canyon Road, toward the crash site. They tightened the perimeter to a much smaller area, allowing Leslie Canyon to be opened,” Capas said. The question as to whether or not the pilot ejected has yet to been made clear. “Although we were advised of a possible ping from an emergency beacon, such as on their flight suits that might activate if they ejected, but through some means they determined that was a false,” Capas said. Initial reports that the crash damaged a nearby high pressure gas line also proved incorrect. “Initially, because of the explosive sound and fireballs, and the significant amount of flames, when we got initial calls there was some reports that a gas line had ruptured, but that’s not the case,” she said. The crash site, located east of Leslie Canyon Road about 2.5 miles north of Glenn Road, was surveyed for potential hazardous materials by Douglas members of the Cochise County Regional Hazmat Team, including Matt King, spokesman for the Douglas Fire Department. “Just like with any jet, there’s a lot of flammable materials. Until you get to the scene, you don’t know if there’s some of that stuff left,” King said. The team searched the area along with military officials, but no chemical remnants were found at the site. “It was just monitoring for any kind of hazardous environment and looking for any chemical that got into a pocket somewhere and didn’t get destroyed in the fire. They did a bunch of readings, but from what I saw, there was nothing left of any concern. Everything seemed to be destroyed in the crash and the fire,” he said. The Douglas and Sunnyside fire departments finally cleared the scene at about 7:30 Thursday morning. Along with the Elfrida and Pirtleville fire districts, crews surrounded the blaze shortly after the crash, which occurred around 8:30 p.m. “A lot of the fire initially was the brush, but the debris did continue to burn for quite a while,” King said. The crash coincided with a loud explosion and fireball witnessed by several residents in the immediate area, although Capas said she was not aware of any property damage as a result of the incident.

[Don Corleone]

I hope it was paid for.

[Doogle]

"...*sigh*.....couldn't put him in an ultralight with automatic parachute release eh?....oh, I almost forgot, he mustof been from NASA"

[blackdog]

I trained with Arab pilots at Flight Safety Int'l in Florida. They are complete idiots. They react very poorly in crisis management situations and they fail to recognize the ten poor decisions as they individually took place which lead up to the crisis.

I once watched one crash a plane because the tower advised "Caution, turtles on runway". He had no idea what a turtle was and could not process this information at a critical phase of flight (landing). I watched another radio in for being lost and the controller just told him to radio in when he saw a coastline. He did and the controller told him to keep the coastline out his left window and report the first city he saw along the water's edge. He flew around Lake Okeechobee six times until he ran out of fuel.

[PA Engineer]

That is a keeper. Already blasted around the internet.

[PLMerite]

Four more and he’ll be an ISIS ace.

[pfflier]

They don't know about the ejection seat? Something is wrong here. The seat is sturdy enough to remain identifiable at a crash site. If it isn't there, it's just as unique by it's absence. The F-16 enjoys a good ejection success rate.

I'm guessing the pilot rode it in. Cause: "Controlled flight into terrain".