By COREY DICKSTEIN | STARS AND STRIPES
Published: December 9, 2020
WASHINGTON — Military troops and local emergency responders are searching for a Wisconsin Air National Guard F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot who ejected Tuesday night before the jet crashed in northern Michigan, Guard officials said.
Crews are searching by ground, air and water in the area for the missing pilot whose jet crashed about 8 p.m. during a routine training flight, according to the Wisconsin Guard’s 115th Fighter Wing. The Guard said the pilot’s status remained unknown Wednesday morning.
“We are a close-knit family and when an incident like this occurs, every member in our organization feels it,” Air Force Col. Bart Van Roo, the 115th Fighter Wing’s commander, said Wednesday in a statement. “The safety of our pilot along with search and rescue efforts are our top priority, and we will continue to pray for the pilot’s safe return.”
The Guard said the aircraft crashed in Delta County in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a rural and heavily wooded area along Lake Michigan. Local news outlets, including WLUC TV, reported the jet crashed into the Hiawatha National Forest.
Wisconsin National Guard officials said members of the 115th Fighter Wing had arrived by Wednesday at the crash site to secure the area. The cause of the crash was not yet clear and was under investigation, a Guard official said.
The 115th Fighter Wing is based at Truax Field, an Air National Guard Base just outside of Madison, Wisc., some 250 miles south of the crash site.
The wing announced earlier this week that it would be conducting nighttime flying operations from Dec. 7 to Dec. 10 to certify its pilots to fly in the dark.
dickstein.corey@stripes.com
