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Airman dies as fighter jets collide
An Air Force fighter pilot died on Wednesday after his jet and another collided during a training exercise and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. The other pilot was rescued and is expected to survive.
- AP
- Published: 01:22 February 22, 2008
Eglin Air Force base, Florida: An Air Force fighter pilot died on Wednesday after his jet and another collided during a training exercise and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. The other pilot was rescued and is expected to survive.
The single-seat F-15C Eagles crashed off the Florida Panhandle, said Colonel Todd Harmer, commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing, 58th Fighter Squadron. The pilots had ejected. The base has suffered a "great loss", Harmer said in.
The cause of the collision about 56kms south of Tyndall Air Force Base on the Gulf Coast of Florida, was not immediately known, but the Air Force will investigate, Harmer said. Weather in the area was clear.
A Coast Guard rescue jet located one pilot and radioed the location to a fishing vessel, which picked him up, said Coast Guard Petty Officer James Harless.
That pilot told rescuers he saw the other pilot eject but lost him in the clouds, Harless said. He told them the approximate location for the second pilot, who was found by a Coast Guard helicopter.
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