Collisione in volo tra due F-15C del 33rd Fighter Wing dell'USAF; salvi i due piloti

[Zarco]

F-15 pilots rescued after collision

The Air Force says both pilots from the two missing fighter jets have been rescued in the Gulf of Mexico.

The pair of F-15C fighter jets went missing after colliding today during a training exercise over the Gulf of Mexico, according to Air Force officials.

Air Force search and rescue and U.S. Coast Guard crews were searching the Gulf for the pilots Wednesday afternoon.

The planes were part of the 33rd Fighter Wing, a combat unit based at Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida panhandle.

The crash happened at about 3 p.m. ET and about 50 miles south of Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Florida.

The Pentagon said it was not immediately known how many crew members were missing -- although F-15Cs are single-seat jets.

In January a top Air Force general said a manufacturing defect blamed for causing a mid-air breakup of an F-15 Eagle fighter, which occurred in November, might lead the Air Force to permanently ground a quarter of those warplanes.

There is no information currently that points to a malfunctioning defect as the cause of Wednesday's incident.

Fonte: Associated Press

[Zarco]

Contrariamente a quanto scritto nel titolo che non riesco più a modificare, uno dei due piloti è morto.

Segue materia della CNN

Air Force: 1 pilot dies, another survives after F15Cs collide

An Air Force fighter pilot died Wednesday after two F-15C jets collided during a training exercise over the Gulf of Mexico, according to Air Force officials.

The planes were from the 33rd Fighter Wing, a combat-flying unit out of Eglin Air Force Base, near Pensacola, Florida.

A spokesman for the wing said the pilot died after having been rescued by a fishing boat and transported to the hospital at the base. The pilot of the other jet was also rescued and was listed in good condition, he said.

The crash happened at about 3 p.m. ET, about 50 miles south of Tyndall Air Force Base which is in Panama City, Florida. A statement from the 33rd said the pilots were rescued at about 6 p.m. ET.

"The 33rd FW Nomads and Team Eglin have suffered a great loss today and my heart goes out to the family and friends of our former airman," said wing commander Col. Todd Harmer in a written statement.

"We will continue to do everything we can to assist our families and airmen at this tragic time."

Capt. Jim McPherson of the Coast Guard told CNN the crew of a Coast Guard aircraft on a training mission spotted a parachute dropping into the Gulf Wednesday afternoon.

The crew used radar and an automated identification system to detect a fishing boat in the area and directed that boat to the area where the parachute landed.

The Air Force was not identifying the pilots late Wednesday pending notification of their families. Harmer said both were "assigned to the wing for quite some time."

He said the Air Force will convene a board of officers to investigate the crash and determine its cause.

Fonte: Larry Shaughnessy (CNN)

[Zarco]

Pilot killed in F-15 collision identified

The F-15C pilot who died in a midair collision Wednesday over the Gulf of Mexico was 1st Lt. Ali Jivanjee, the 33rd Fighter Wing announced Friday. He was with the 58th Fighter Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

The wing halted training flights Thursday as investigators searched for the cause of the crash, which also injured the pilot of the other jet, who has not been identified. Normal flights will resume Monday, according to a base statement.

The crash of the two jets occurred 77 miles southeast of Eglin while the pilots were flying a routine training sortie, according to a wing press release. Weather in the area was clear.

The Coast Guard received a distress call at around 2 p.m., and crews located and rescued the two downed pilots at approximately 5 p.m. An AC-130H Hercules gunship and a CV-22 Osprey from the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Fla., were diverted from a training sortie to aid in the search-and-rescue mission.

An HC-144A Ocean Sentry from Coast Guard Aviation Training Center Mobile, Ala., spotted the first pilot and radioed a nearby fishing vessel, the Nina, which picked up the pilot.

Thomas Niquet, the captain of the commercial fishing boat, said he found the man in the middle of an oil slick after the boat passed through some of the crash debris.

“He was able to talk to us, but he was weak,” Niquet said. “He had his vest on and it was inflated. His parachute was right there by him. He had been there in the water for quite awhile, but he didn’t have any injuries.

“He wanted some water and we covered him up with a blanket,” Niquet added. “He was worried a lot about the other pilot.”

That pilot told rescuers he saw the other pilot eject but lost him in the clouds. He told them the approximate location for the second pilot, who was found by a Coast Guard HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Fla.

The two pilots were taken to the Eglin hospital, where one was pronounced dead. The other pilot was released from the hospital Wednesday in good condition.

The Air Force grounded all of its F-15s after the catastrophic failure of an F-15C during a routine training flight in Missouri in November. That pilot safely ejected.

The planes have slowly returned to flight after inspections, and the Air Force cleared all but a handful for takeoff Feb. 15.

Fonte: AirForceTimes / Associated Press