Pilot dead as US fighter jet crashes into North Sea
A US AIR Force F-15C fighter jet has crashed into the sea off the north-east coast of England, killing the pilot.
Col Will Marshall, the commander of the 48th Fighter Wing, based at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, said the pilot of the F-15C Eagle had been “located and confirmed deceased”.
He said the pilot’s name would not “be released until all next of kin notifications have been made”.
Col Marshall added: “This is a tragic loss for the 48th Fighter Wing community, and our deepest condolences go out to the pilot’s family and the 493rd Fighter Squadron.” He said the cause of the crash, at around 9.40am yesterday, was “unknown at this time”.
The Daily Telegraph understands that US fighter jets were engaged in air intercept training, with two planes acting as the “enemy”, when the aircraft crashed. HM Coastguard confirmed it had located and started the recovery of the wreckage.
The single-seater fighter jet was 74 nautical miles off the coast at Flamborough Head, E Yorks, when it crashed.
US Air Force officials were unable to say if they had any indication that the pilot managed to eject, however it is understood that a Personal Locator Beacon, worn by all pilots, did not transmit an emergency signal. If a pilot had ejected, the PLB would have transmitted automatically, unless it was broken, although experts said that was unlikely as they are designed to operating under huge stress.
Earlier that morning, as the jets set
‘You can literally fly into the sea, particularly if you are straining, pulling lots of g-force’
off for the exercise, RAF Lakenheath posted an image of F-15C Eagles on Twitter with the caption “ready to take on Monday like…”, however a spokesman for the base confirmed that the image had been taken on a different day and was not from yesterday morning.
Andrew Brooks, the director of the Air League, the aviation and aerospace charity, warned fighter pilots trained “realistically” and as a result were at risk of crashes. “In order to train propto erly you have to fly to the limits,” he told The Telegraph. “You train really low, where the enemy would be coming in from beneath the radar, practising really low, fast and frenetically. If there was mist over the North Sea that might impair visual references and cause visual misjudgement where the horizon disappears. You can literally fly into the sea, particularly if you are straining, pulling lots of g-force.”
While the cause of the crash has yet
‘Our thoughts are with our friends US Air Force and all those at RAF Lakenheath at this time’
be established, an RAF source cautioned that “most incidents relating to crashes are human error”, while a bird having been sucked into an engine was also suggested as a possibility.
A Met Office spokesman confirmed that “fog patches” had been forecast for the Humber shipping area at the time of the crash.
He added that a ship around 40 miles offshore had reported an exceptionally low cloud base of just 200m (650ft) above the water, potentially hampering visibility for pilots. The F15C, a model used by the US Air Force since 1979, is said to have an “exceptional flight safety record”.
Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said: “Our thoughts are with our friends US Air Force and all those at RAF Lakenheath at this time.”
He said the Ministry of Defence stood ready to support its allies at the US embassy.