Skip to footer

Fighter jet crashes in Arizona: sixth military crash in as many months

The pilot of the US F-16 Fighting Falcon that crashed during a training mission in southern Arizona is an Iraqi national, according to a media report.

|
Matt York/AP/File
A boneyard crew tows an F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft prior to the preservation process after its arrival at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz., May 15. Military officials confirm a single F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft crashed Wednesday night, about 5 miles east of Douglas Municipal Airport. The pilot with the 162nd Wing Arizona Air National Guard was the only person on board during the night training mission, according to an Arizona Air National Guard statement. The pilot's identity and condition is unknown at this time.

A US F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed on a training mission in southern Arizona Wednesday night, according to military officials.

The aircraft was part of the 162nd Wing Arizona Air National Guard. The unidentified pilot, whose status has not been revealed, was the only person on board during the crash, military officials said.

The Associated Press reports that the pilot is an Iraqi who has been training in the United States the past four years.

The accident site is located five miles east of Douglas Municipal Airport, which is just north of the Mexican border, NBC News reports.

Cochise County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Carol Capas told The Arizona Daily Star that the plane struck a gas line and ignited a fire which covered about 400 yards. The fire delayed first responders and authorities from immediately investigating the crash site, Ms. Capas said.

A hazardous materials team and an investigative board has now been dispatched to survey and investigate the crash site, Capas added.

In the past six months, there have been a number of accidents involving US military aircraft.

  • On Jan. 20, a California National Guard Black Hawk helicopter was forced to land on its side in an emergency landing at Ramona Airport in Ramona, Calif. during a training mission. The pilots were able to escape on their own with minor injuries.
  • Feb. 22,  a Marine fighter jet crashed near Statenville, Ga. while conducting low-altitude training exercises. The two crew members were able to eject from the plane and walked away with no serious injuries.
  • On March 10, a Black Hawk helicopter crashed off the coast of Florida killing seven Marines and four soldiers. Recovery efforts were stalled during the search because of heavy fog and weather conditions.
  • On May 17, a Marine aircraft crashed at near Bellows Air Force Station in Waimanalo, Hawaii killing two crew members on board and injuring more than a dozen others.
  • On May 22, an aircraft landing at Naval Air Station North Island crashed into San Diego Bay in southern California, but the pilot was able to eject and was rescued by a civilian boat.
You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Fighter jet crashes in Arizona: sixth military crash in as many months
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2015/0625/Fighter-jet-crashes-in-Arizona-sixth-military-crash-in-as-many-months
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe