[rdenham]

“The pilot of an F-16C fighter jet that crashed in a rugged area of western Arizona was killed when his plane went down, Air Force officials confirmed Saturday. The student pilot was practicing air-to-air combat with another F-16 from Luke Air Force Base about noon Friday when his plane crashed”

“The pilot, whose identity hasn't been released pending notification of relatives, was part of the 62nd Fighter Squadron, one of eight squadrons at the base. The base is in the suburb of Glendale and is the world's largest F-16 training base with about 185 F-16s"

"There have been 17 other crashes of Luke-based F-16s since 1998, and only one of those resulted in a fatality, May said. That crash happened in May 2004, when a pilot with the Singapore air force died after his jet went down during a training mission at an Air Force bombing range in southwest Arizon

The most recent crashes came in 2006. A pilot ejected safely from an F-16 in April 2006 after the lone engine on the jet exploded just after takeoff from the base. The aircraft came down in a cornfield.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080315/ap_on_re_us/f16_crash

[flyXwire]

Every time a member of the armed services from any branch of the military dies in the line of duty, it is quite very sad to hear. My thoughts and prayers goes to
the family of the deceased pilot.

[Captain Eddie]

I read in the paper today that he was a Toledo Ohio native. R.I.P.