From the Las Vegas Sun: A U.S. Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon jet crashed near Caliente at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, officials at Nellis Air Force Base said.
The status of the pilot, the only person on board, was not released.
The fighter jet from Nellis was participating in an air-to-air combat training mission when it went down, Air Force officials said. Search and rescue units were scrambled to the scene, officials said.
The crash is under investigation.
The F-16 is a multi-role fighter that is capable of both air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack. The F-16 was designed with proven reliable systems from other aircraft, such as the F-15 and the F-111, according to an Air Force fact sheet on the plane. The aircraft is controlled via a "fly-by-wire" system in which electrical wires relay pilot commands, replacing cables and linkage controls.
The status of the pilot, the only person on board, was not released.
The fighter jet from Nellis was participating in an air-to-air combat training mission when it went down, Air Force officials said. Search and rescue units were scrambled to the scene, officials said.
The crash is under investigation.
The F-16 is a multi-role fighter that is capable of both air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack. The F-16 was designed with proven reliable systems from other aircraft, such as the F-15 and the F-111, according to an Air Force fact sheet on the plane. The aircraft is controlled via a "fly-by-wire" system in which electrical wires relay pilot commands, replacing cables and linkage controls.
From the LVRJ: An F-16C Fighting Falcon crashed about 5:30 p.m. near Caliente during an air-to-air combat exercise and rescue personnel were trying to locate the pilot in a remote area, 155 miles north of Las Vegas, a Nellis Air Force Base spokesman said Tuesday.
"We have a search and rescue mission in progress," said spokesman Chuck Ramey.
The crash site is about 20 miles west of Caliente in Lincoln County on Bureau of Land Management property. The pilot, whose name was not released, was the only person in the aircraft.
http://www.lvrj.com/news/air-force-personnel-respond-to-aircraft-accident-near-alamo-124685878.html
Caliente is a very nice area of Lincoln County, but once you get out of the city area, it's a lot of mountains and valleys. It's elevation is higher than Las Vegas and the temps are cooler. Caliente is a small city with a couple hundred people in it. It has two fire stations- Caliente and the Nevada Bureau of Forestry fire department, which I am sure are involved in the search. I believe they also have a County search and rescue team. Caliente also has a small town hospital. There are no other close towns to Caliente (within about 20 miles or so)
So, best wishes to the pilot and good luck to the search and rescue teams.
Fox 5 is reporting that the pilot has not been found yet.
Update: All of the 11:00PM news in Las Vegas are reporting that the pilot is still missing, though Channel 13 is hemming and hawing about the outcome. The newspapers have not changed anything.
I suspect the plane has a GPS emergency beacon showing where the plane went down and probably with the ejection seat as well. My guess is that they have found the crash site and are going to announce the fate of the pilot in the morning.
About 2 years ago, a pilot from Nellis died in a crash. the flags at Nellis flew at half staff and the guards at the entrances of the base wore badges over their badges, well before the base announced the death of the pilot. Those two things will be a tell tale sign of what has happened.
Sorry to sound pessimistic and I hope I am wrong.
Update 2: Strange post by the Reno Gazette-Journal: The base is on the outskirts of Las Vegas, but the plane went down about 90 miles northeast of the city.
The plane involved was the type used by the Air Force's aerial demonstration team, the Thunderbirds.
http://www.rgj.com/article/20110628/NEWS/106290359/F-16C-Fighting-Falcon-crashes-during-Nevada-training?odyssey=tabtopnewstextFRONTPAGE
Sounds like they are suggesting that maybe a Thunderbird plane crashed. That would seem strange since they don't usually fly at night, but it is also not unheard of. But I doubt it as the Thunderbirds are in Europe now: http://thunderbirds.airforce.com/schedule.html
This is the Nellis AFB web site: http://www.nellis.af.mil/ and Nellis statement on the crash: http://www.nellis.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123261944
Update: The Air Force has found the crash site but the jet did not have an emergency beacon according to the LVRJ: The pilot of a downed F-16C Fighting Falcon remained missing late Tuesday several hours after his jet crashed in a remote area near Caliente during an air-to-air combat exercise, a Nellis Air Force Base official said.
"At this time we are focusing our efforts on the ongoing search-and-rescue mission for the missing pilot," Brig. Gen. T.J. O'Shaughnessy, commander of the 57th Wing at Nellis Air Force Base, said at a news conference shortly before 11 p.m. "What we are looking for now is the parachute and the pilot."
The jet, which went down about 5:30 p.m., did not have live weaponry and was not equipped with an active locating device, O'Shaughnessy said. He described the exercise that preceded the crash as a "dogfight" between two aircraft
http://www.lvrj.com/news/air-force-personnel-respond-to-aircraft-accident-near-alamo-124685878.html
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