Continued thoughts and prayers for the Pilot in F-15C crashs family and friends! Pilot in F-15C crash confirmed dead/Brad Zinn, bzinn@newsleader 9:27 p.m. EDT August 28, 2014UPDATE, 9:25 p.m.: Officials confirmed the pilot was fatally injured in the Wednesday crash of an F-15C Eagle in Deerfield. The name of the pilot is being withheld until family members are notified. A press conference is being held in Deerfield at 10:15 p.m. DEERFIELD Throughout Thursday, helicopters, mostly military, came and went in Deerfield as roughly 150 searchers continued to scour the area for a missing Air National Guard pilot who crashed a jet in the western part of Augusta County the day before. An HC-130 extended-range search and rescue combat plane also flew overhead most of the day. Searchers were concentrating in the southeastern area of Crawford Mountain, according to the Virginia National Guard. The F-15C Eagle fighter jet, from 104th Fighter Wing in Massachusetts, slammed into the ground Wednesday shortly after 9 a.m. A Virginia National Guard spokesman, Cotton Puryear, said investigators were having a hard time analyzing the scene shortly after the crash. Yesterday the site was too hot, Puryear said from a temporary command post at the Deerfield Volunteer Fire-Rescue station. For two days searchers have combed a wide swath of mountains and forest, but the pilot is still unaccounted for. The terrain is extraordinarily steep in some places, heavily wooded, its very, very difficult, said Gen. Timothy P. Williams, commander of the Virginia National Guard. Williams did not divulge how large the search area is, but said officials have an idea of where the aircraft was traveling. And we have an understanding of the geography of where that pilot may have gone, he said. The one-seater jet was en route to New Orleans to get a new radar system. CLOSER LOOK: Crews could get near site Thursday Q&A: How big is the search radius? Asked if he felt any more confident or optimistic about finding the pilot, Lt. David Cooper of the Virginia State Police, the incident commander, said, We continue to move forward with the information that we have, and continue to search based on the information that we have. Cooper said Thursdays operation covered a vast search area. The crash site is wooded and sparsely populated national forest area. About 1 million acres of the George Washington Forest lies within Virginia, covering 29 percent of Augusta County. The United States Air Force is handling the on-site investigation of the jet crash, officials said. On Wednesday, the Augusta County Sheriffs Office reported that a witness said they saw a parachute when the plane went down, but the report was unfounded. MASS. AIR BASE: Fighter wing worries Puryear said 150 searchers, including National Guardsmen from five states, participated in the search, as did helicopters from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Virginia State police and the military. The Augusta County Sheriffs Office took part in the search effort as well, as did Harrisonburg authorities, searchers on horseback and the FBI. The Civilian Air Patrol also chipped in – on foot. Theres a lot of resources here and theres a lot of traffic in the air, explained 1st Lt. Greg Fletcher. The Civilian Air Patrol sent out more than 50 people to aid in the search, Fletcher said late in the morning. As I understand, nothing has been found, he said. Fletcher said ground search teams of four to eight people were working in the field and sifting through the rugged terrain for clues. Fletcher said most of the Civil Air Patrol were pulling six-hour shifts. They can take it, he said.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 01:40:54 +0000
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