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Air Force Pilot Dies In F-15C Collision Over Gulf

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By MELISSA NELSON, The Associated Press

Published: February 21, 2008

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE - The Air Force says one of the two pilots whose fighter jets crashed into the Gulf of Mexico has died. The other pilot is in good condition.

The Air Force says the two single-seat F-15C Eagles likely collided and crashed during a training exercise Wednesday off the Florida Panhandle.

The jets disappeared Wednesday afternoon off the Panhandle, about 35 miles south of Tyndall Air Force Base, Eglin Air Force Base spokeswoman Shirley Pigott said.

The planes crashed during a training exercise "emphasizing basic maneuvers and tactics," said Col. Todd Harmer, commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing, 58th Fighter Squadron.

The cause of the collision was not immediately known, but the Air Force will investigate, Harmer said. Weather in the area was clear.

Both pilots had been with the wing "for quite some time," Harmer said.

A Coast Guard rescue jet located one pilot and radioed the location to a fishing vessel, which picked him up, said Coast Guard Petty Officer James Harless. A Coast Guard helicopter then hoisted the pilot off the vessel.

That pilot told rescuers he saw the other pilot also eject but lost him in the clouds, Harless said. He told them the approximate location for the second pilot, who was found by a Coast Guard helicopter, Harless said.

The pilots were taken to Eglin base hospital.

No debris from the jets has been found, Harless said.

The Air Force grounded all of its F-15s - nearly 700 - after the catastrophic failure of an F-15C during a routine training flight in Missouri in November. The pilot safely ejected.

Most were back in service by January, but others were grounded indefinitely after defects were found.

The Air Force began using the F-15C in 1979.

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