JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- An aerial search was scheduled to continue throughout the night for the pilot of an Air Force F-22 fighter jet that crashed in a remote area of interior Alaska during a training exercise.

Rescue aircraft spotted the wreckage Wednesday about 100 miles north of Anchorage, and pararescuemen from the Alaska Air National Guard scoured the crash site until being flown out for the night.

"There's no sign of the pilot at this point, from what I've been told," guard spokesman Maj. Guy Hayes said.

But he said two Air Guard helicopters and a C-130 airplane planned to continue searching throughout the night for a sign that the pilot had ejected and survived, such as a parachute or a campfire.

The pilot's name has not been released.


The single-seat jet took off Tuesday from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage on a training run.

It was in the air about an hour and 20 minutes and was nearing the end of the training run at 7:40 p.m. when ground radar lost track of it and another pilot on the mission lost communications, said Air Force Col. Jack McMullen, the base 3rd Wing commander.

The pilot had split off from the other jet and was about to do a "rejoin" before both returned to Anchorage as a unit flying about two miles apart, McMullen said.

The other pilot refueled in the air and began searching for the missing aircraft.

The Alaska Air National Guard aircraft joined the search and continued until about 5 a.m. Wednesday. New crews then picked up the search.

A helicopter spotted the wreckage at 10:15 a.m. but did not immediately land because of the threat of hazardous materials.

"It was being considered a haz-mat scene," Hayes said. "They had to get the right gear flown out there to the location so that the pararescuemen and the crash site recovery folks could safely get down there and do a search."

If the pilot ejected, he would be prepared for subzero weather, McMullen said.

"They have survival gear," McMullen said. "He's Arctic trained to survive in that environment. He's got the gear on. He's got stuff in his survival kit, so that he could hunker himself down and fight the extreme cold."

The twin-engine F-22 Raptor entered service in the mid-2000s and arrived at Elmendorf in August 2007. It's far more maneuverable and stealthy than earlier jets and can cruise at more than 1 1/2 times the speed of sound without using its afterburner. Its top speed is confidential.

Congress last year stopped production of the plane, built by Lockheed Martin Corp., by eliminating $1.75 billion that would have added seven F-22s to the Air Force's fleet.

An F-22 crashed in March 2009 near Edwards Air Force Base in California, killing the pilot. In July, a C-17 cargo jet from the 3rd Wing at Elmendorf crashed during a training demonstration for an air show, killing all four crewmen aboard.

Pararescuers will return Thursday, Hayes said.

"They're going to put them back in at first light, or they'll put in somebody -- a crash recovery team or somebody."

Missing F-22 Found By Air Force, Crash Site One Hundred Miles North of Anchorage

The story of the F-22 Raptor Air Force fighter jet missing since Tuesday night is intriguing in that a highly sophisticated stealth fighter jet ‘vanished’ while returning to base. According to the Washington Post the F-22, based at Alaska’s Elemendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage, ‘lost contact with air traffic control’ at approximately 7:40 PM Tuesday. The Air Force currently searching for the F-22 which was ‘overdue’.

The latest from KTUU:

    The Air Force says they have found the apparent wreckage of the F-22 that went missing Tuesday night.

    A rescue team is being deployed to the area approximately 100 miles north of Anchorage.

    The jet, from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage, was on a training mission when it lost contact with air traffic control Tuesday night. The plane carries one pilot.

http://deathby1000papercuts.com/2010/11/missing-f-22-found-by-air-force-crash-site-one-hundred-miles-north-of-anchorage/

Da, ostade pilot u divljinama Aljaske.Sad je tamo jakooooooo hladno.Ako prodje vise od nedelju dana (statisticki pricano) bice samo hrana za grizlije.

duboko sam pogodjen zbog ovog nenadanog i tragichnog gubitka 

nego obratite paznju na jedan interesantan detalj  :

bice da bas i nije tako nevidljiv 

po svemu sudeci , vidljiv je na prilichno velikim udaljenostima . da se pad desio blizu radara (blizu baze) lako bi prosnashli i avion i pilota  .

  jel imaju oni transponder uopste?

evo josh jedne interesantne priche - izgleda da F-22 nije bash popuaran medju pilotima  . naime , prema americhkim propisima , svaki pilot je duzan da provede najmanje 8 godina u vazduhoplovstvu . posle toga , dobar deo njih ode (u civilne pilote) a oni koji ostaju dobijaju bonus ako potpishu ugovor na josh 5 godina .
 
  medjutim , od svih pilota F-22 , samo  43% odluchi da ostane u vojsci - dok je procenat za F-15 68% a za F-15E 81 % :

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Most F-22 pilots pass on re-up bonus

By Bruce Rolfsen - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Oct 23, 2008 15:16:44 EDT

In the end, 68 percent of eligible pilots signed up for the $125,000 retention bonus in fiscal 2008 — more than the goal of 66 percent — but the final numbers show troublesome trends among fighter pilots.

Fifty-nine percent of the 290 eligible fighter pilots chose to stay another five years beyond the end of their eight-year service commitment. The loss of these pilots, typically new majors on their third or fourth assignment, adds to ongoing concerns about having enough experienced pilots on hand to teach new pilots arriving at operational squadrons.

The fighters with the lowest retention rates were A-10s at 53 percent, F-16s at 51 percent and F-22s at 43 percent. Retention rates for other fighters were 81 percent for F-15Es and 68 percent for F-15s.

All other types of manned aircraft had retention better than 68 percent, ranging from 81 percent for combat rescue pilots to 71 percent for mobility pilots.


http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/10/airforce_pilot_retentionbonus_102108w/

Stealth avioni imaju uredjaje za podizanje radarskog odraza u svrsi bezbednog leta unutar oblasti sa civilnim vazdusnim saobracajem.

to nije zona sa civilnim saobracajem (aljaska) , avion je bio na vezbi , a osim toga takav uredjaj ne postoji