Posted on 11/28/2006 5:07:50 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
Officials say jet belongs to New Mexico-based fighter wing, but all its pilots are accounted for.
The pilot of an F-16 that crashed Monday in Iraqs Anbar province is officially listed as Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown, as defense officials confirmed that the plane though not the pilot was assigned to a squadron deployed to Iraq from New Mexico.
Pentagon officials have not confirmed broadcast reports and video and still images apparently showing the pilots body and parachute on the ground. The pilots body was apparently removed before U.S. forces arrived on the scene after the crash, officials said Tuesday.
Air Force officials at Central Command said they had seen a video from Al-Jazeera showing what was purported to be the pilots body, but the military said they could not authenticate or validate the footage.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that videotape footage obtained by AP Television News appears to show the wreckage of a U.S. single-seat F-16CG jet in the farm field where it crashed Monday and the remains of an American serviceman with a tangled parachute nearby.
At a Pentagon press briefing Tuesday morning in Arlington, Va., spokesman Bryan Whitman offered no new details of the crash or the status of the pilot. Late Monday, a spokeswoman from Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, confirmed that the downed aircraft belonged to the 524th Fighter Squadron, 27th Fighter Wing, part of which is deployed to Balad Air Base, north of Baghdad.
But, Capt. Rebecca Garcia said, all of the wings pilots were accounted for.
It was unclear how often or why a pilot from another squadron would be flying an aircraft assigned to that wing, officials said.
Late Tuesday, a pair of insurgent groups in Iraq the Mujahideen Army and the Mujahideen Shura Council issued a joint statement claiming they had shot down the aircraft.
Earlier, the top military spokesman in Baghdad said it was unlikely that the plane had been shot down, citing the speed at which the jet normally operates and the lack so far of insurgent weapons capable of hitting a fighter jet.
The jet went down around 1:30 p.m. Monday in an empty field north of Fallujah. The Associated Press quoted one witness, who was interviewed by phone, as saying the plane had been flying erratically before it nose-dived into the field.
U.S. officials said other aircraft circled above the downed F-16 and observed insurgents move in on the crash site.
Reporters Jeff Schogol and Lisa Burgess contributed to this report from the Pentagon.
You catch my drift.
Ummm...not yet..
So who was flying the jet? Was it stolen?
The pilot probably voted Democrap?
I sure hope this all is NOT the case, but something is starting to stink in Denmark.This IS a strange case.
Sigh. I look at that and all I can think is "there are no SAMS at Tchepone."
Strange...
Could it have been an unmanned test?
The AF can't determine who was flying one of their $25 million jets?
Interesting take.
I have read articles about unmanned fighter tests.
"accounted for" does not equal "alive"
F-16 Mishap NewsUSAF F-16 crashes in Iraq |
November 27, 2006 (by Asif Shamim) - A U.S. F-16CG has crashed during operations north of Falluja in Iraq's western Anbar province. According to sources the pilot did not survive.
The F-16 (#90-0776), belonging to the 524th Fighter Squadron, was supporting coalition ground forces when it went down at about 13.35hrs, about 20 miles northwest of the capital Baghdad in Anbar province. |
True. I saw the video of the canopy of the jet laying on the ground.
A good sign that the pilot did eject. I have not seen any other video. So my opinion would just be speculation.
Thanks for the update.
Observe? Why not KILL THEM?
Think about it...an unmanned F-16?????
What was your drift?
One of them little guys from Roswell was joyriding.
It's probably an air guard troop from one of the units cycling through. Units rarely deploy with only their planes. It's usually a mix from several units. My son got back from Balad in September. They were flying 16s from several units besides their own.
What in the hell are you talking about?
I know that, however, I was hesitant to post it without more info.
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