Crashed F-16 found in Arizona; pilot status unknown

PHOENIX — Authorities in Arizona found the wreckage of an F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet from Luke Air Force Base early Thursday afternoon, roughly four hours after it was believed to have crashed.

But no information was immediately available about the condition of the pilot or a possible second crew member, said Yavapai County Sheriff's Office spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn.

Local hunters who saw the plane go down directed Sheriff's Office personnel to a remote site northwest of Wickenburg in central Arizona, D'Evelyn said. A helicopter search-and-rescue crew investigated and located the plane around 12:45 p.m., he said.

Air Force officials were immediately notified, he said.

The jet crashed at approximately 8:45 a.m., according to personnel at Luke, which is located just west of Phoenix. Initially, the plane was believed to have gone down near the town of Bagdad, about 100 miles northwest of the base in Glendale. Wickenburg is about 40 miles from the base.

Report details final seconds before deadly F-16, Cessna crash

The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

No other details, such as the nationality of the pilot, were immediately available, said Luke spokeswoman Kiley Dougherty.

Both the Sheriff's Office and the Air Force had aircraft in the area searching for the downed plane throughout the morning, D'Evelyn said.

Governor's office officials are monitoring developments, a spokesman for Gov. Doug Ducey said.

The state dispatched personnel from the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s Hazardous Materials Unit, Explosives Ordinance Disposal Unit and Aviation Unit to assist federal and local officials at the site.

"As further details become available, Arizona stands at the ready to provide any state resources or manpower needed to assist in any and all response and recovery efforts," Ducey spokeswoman Annie Dockendorff said in a statement.

Some F-16s carry a pilot and a second crew member, but it was not immediately known whether the downed plane was carrying one or two crew members, Dougherty said.

Luke trains both U.S. and allied country pilots in the F-16 and the F-35 Lightning II fighter jets.

Brig. Gen. Scott Pleus, 56th Fighter Wing commander at Luke, has established a team to conduct a preliminary investigation into the incident.

The jet is the third F-16 affiliated with Luke to crash in less than three years.

On Nov. 25, 2015, a Fighting Falcon crashed in New Mexico. A student pilot who was stationed at Holloman Air Force Bace in southern New Mexico safely ejected from the plane.

The $22.7 million plane crashed on a military range about 45 miles north of Holloman. The F-16 was part of the 54th Fighter Group, which is under the command of the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke.

The Air Force has not released the results of an investigation into the cause of the incident. Those results typically come about six months after a crash.

On June 26, 2013, an instructor pilot and a student pilot safely ejected from an F-16 before it flew unmanned in a roughly 9-mile circle northwest of Luke.

The plane circled back, lost altitude and cratered into a dirt field just outside the base. Investigators determined three small birds flew into the jet’s engine, resulting in “degraded engine performance” shortly after takeoff on a so-called "touch and go" landing and takeoff exercise.

Officials blamed the crash on the instructor pilot’s handling of the aircraft after the bird strikes. The president of the safety board team looking into the incident “found by clear and convincing evidence that the cause of the mishap was a decision-making error by the (instructor pilot),” the investigative report stated.

The Air Force has not released the names of the pilots involved in the earlier incidents.

Wickenburg is located along Hassayampa River at the northern edge of Maricopa County in central Arizona. Its population is about 6,300 and it’s a popular tourist town with a storied mining history.

Contributing: Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, The Arizona Republic