E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Alessandro Garofalo / Reuters, file
A U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jet like the one shown flying over Aviano Air Base, Italy, is presumed to have crashed in the Adriatic Sea while on a training exercise. Aviano controllers lost contact with the plane about 8 p.m. local time Monday.
U.S. and Italian authorities searched the Adriatic Sea on Tuesday after a U.S. Air Force fighter jet was lost and presumed to have crashed.
Divers focused on waters where a fishing boat had found fragments believed to belong to the F-16, a Coast Guard official told Reuters.
Fragments of carbon steel and other debris were found floating in the northern Adriatic overnight, Rear Admiral Francesco Saverio Ferrara told Reuters. The U.S. Air Force said in a statement it believed the debris belonged to the wreckage of the missing aircraft, Reuters reported.
"We hope to find out more during the day so we can have a more complete picture of what happened," Ferrara said, according to Reuters.
Controllers lost contact with the F-16 at about 8 p.m. local time (2 p.m. ET) Monday, after it took off for a training exercise from Aviano Air Base, Italy, the Aviano-based 31st Fighter Wing said in a statement.
Italian aircraft and ships were dispatched to the missing jet's last known location, and U.S. and Italian aircraft were flying over the area Tuesday, the Air Force said.
The Italian national news agency ANSA reported that a fuel slick was seen off the coast near the town of Cervia and that a fishing boat had found fragments that could have belonged to a military jet.
Weather was bad at the time the plane vanished, with sleet falling and visibility poor, the Associated Press quoted an Italian coast guard commander as saying.
The Italian news agency LaPresse reported that the pilot sent an alarm signal to Aviano before contact was lost and that three other planes on the training mission had made it back to the base safely.
No information was released about the pilot, who was the plane's sole occupant.
Search-and-rescue operations are still being conducted by sea and air, Reuters reported.
"Wing leadership remains hopeful that we will safely rescue our pilot," an Air Force statement said, according to Reuters.
The Associated Press, Reuters, ANSA and LaPresse contributed to this report
Leave a Comment:
Well this doesn't sound promising. RIP!
Since they are not receiving a beacon from the seat. The pilot either crashed without ejecting or the seat sank in the sea.
I hope they find him soon!
"The pilot either crashed without ejecting or the seat sank in the sea."
Another more optimistic possibility is that the beacon is broken.
mickey
Why would that be more optimistic? It's not like he/she is just lost and still flying around out there somewhere.
flnobody,
"Why would that be more optimistic?"
I think it would certainly be more optimistic than the assumption that the plane crashed without the pilot's having been able to eject. If it crashed without his having been able to eject, he is most likely dead. Don't you think it is more optimistic to say the beacon might simply have been broken, and that the pilot is still alive?
mickey
Here, I will reprint the part you obviously did not read. "or the seat sank in the sea." Just to info you, the seat separates from the pilot right after ejection. And the beacon I was talking about is in the seat.
That's fine, but the first part of you sentence was: "The pilot either crashed without ejecting". Was that not it?
mickey
Here, since you don't seem to understand what "or" means:
or
1 [awr; unstressed er] Show IPA
conjunction
1.
(used to connect words, phrases, or clauses representing alternatives): books or magazines; to be or not to be.
2.
(used to connect alternative terms for the same thing): the Hawaiian, or Sandwich, Islands.
3.
(used in correlation): either … or; or … or; whether … or.
4.
(used to correct or rephrase what was previously said): His autobiography, or rather memoirs, will soon be ready for publication.
5.
otherwise; or else: Be here on time, or we'll leave without you.
flnobody,
I understand perfectly well what "or" means as in either/or. It suggests one of two possibilities may be the case: either he crashed into the ocean without ejecting, in which case he would most likely have been killed or his seat with its beacon sank beneath the sea. Either case would explain why they are not receiving a beacon signal if he succeeded in ejecting but his beacon was broken or if it sank beneath the sea. I was simply saying that his beacon having been broken is better than that he crashed into the sea without ejecting (the first of the two possibilities you yourself gave). Maybe it's you who doesn't understand what "or" means. I don't know why you insist on giving me a hard time about this. Stop it!
Wow nobody, why don't you argue over a fart and which way the wind blew it. Anal much.
We got the gist of Mickey's post. Let it go.
Thanks for the support, LJ. I hope he heeds your advice.
flnobody argues with everyone over anything. Last night he professed to know my homeowners policy and payout on a flood to me seven years ago better than I did and he doesn't even know me. He is just an old man who doesn't realize he is outsmarting himself. The internet is just a way for him to inject a third person into his arguments with himself.
Stop
Because of your anti-government rant. That you got private flood insurance not from the government. And that everyone else should be like you. In fact, you are too stupid to understand. That all flood insurance is backed by the government (FEMA) no matter who sold it to you. Read this and maybe you will understand. http://privatefloodinsurance.com/
lj
You are right. If the wind is blowing west I will say it went west. If someone comes up and tell me I am wrong, that it went east. I will argue with them. If that is being anal, then I am anal.
The majority of military pilots that I have met over the years do so because that is what they love doing and would not want to do anything else. If the pilot of that jet died in the crash, then he most likely died doing what he loved. If it is ones time to go, I can't think of a better way. For some odd reason, I am reminded of the last line of John Gillespe-MaGee's epic poem High Flight, "For I have reached out and touched the face of God." RIP Sir!
Flo you see you still are too stupid to understand a simple statement or you didn't pass third grade reading. I told you it wasn't flood insurance so why do you keep parroting the same old $hit.. typical liberal. We all know where flood insurance comes from. So tell me wise old bird how much did my personal policy pay me and on what day and who was the check made out to old crystal ball boy. You Libby's all think you are as fortune telling as your Messiah in the big office eh. Now go argue with yourself in the corner I'm done trying to get anything comprehensive through your thick skull your a lost cause and don't even know it, probably best that way.
There goes another 20 million dollars down the tubes. I just hope the pilot managed to eject safely, and that they find him.
I'm getting old. I remember the days when news of F-104 Starfighters crashing in Europe wasn't the exception but the norm.
voter
Getting old? You don't remember old! ®¿®
P.S.
I remember the largest German Sq. of F104's in the world. At Luke AFB, AZ.
Voter, very true! They had the glide angle of a rock.
I used to live in Germany and my dad always joked that the only remaining star fighter survived because they shipped it to a museum straight from the manufacturer.
I've heard the f-16 is really a fun jet to fly, but with its record, you'd think they'd have a hard time getting pilots to get in them. It's nicknamed the "lawn dart" for a reason. This is why the Air Force wants to build new jets. The Falcon is a good fighter...when its engine is working. Best wishes to the pilot's family and I hope they do find him alive and well in some little Italian village.
Better a "lawn dart" than "Widowmaker" which was the nickname for the Starfighter in Germany. The German Air Force lost about 30% of its fleet, the Canadians about 50%. Not good survival rates. By comparison the F-16 is a Volvo.
the crash rate is still very low for the F-16, it's a very reliable aircraft. early versions had some problems with wiring that contributed to a lot of crashes early on, but were fixed. the air force wants new jets because these are getting old and past their life expectancy, its a 25 year old fighter, due replacement.
Actually the airframe itself was introduced back in mid-late 70's and entered service with the USAF shortly thereafter. It is an old but very capable weapon-system, when compared to the competition. Jack of all trades!
wahoo
Did you work on them? I did, from 78 until I retired in 92.
Probably can't afford it the congress and the President are more worried about immigration and gun control than they are our men and women fighting the wars the old men have put them in,. and The some of our high ranking military leaders don't want to offend any one in congress or the white house they won't get the next Star or promotinon
I remember being stationed at MCAS Yuma in the mid seventies. They had the prototypes for both the YF-16 and the YF-17, which later was developed into the F-18 Hornet by McDonnell Douglas. Both aircraft were there at the same time for hot weather testing and parked side by side on the VAL (Visiting Aircraft Line). Used to go down to the flight line and watch take offs and landings. It was pretty exciting stuff at the time after watching F-4S Phantoms, A-4M Skyhawks, and AV-8A Harriers all the time. The YF-16 prototype had it's flashy red, white, and blue paint scheme. The YF-17 had a gray paint scheme with U.S. Marine Corps on one side of the aircraft and U.S. Navy on the opposite side with a big yellow Hornet on the nose.
not good
You teabaggers lost the election. Get over it already.
The equipment is wonderful of course but how come the article allocates the last three lines as to the fate of the pilot. Don't people matter most anymore? That's wrong in my book.