THE CRASH OF A US AIR Force McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle during a training flight in Idaho on 27 August, rounded off a series of US military accidents to take place during the month.
The pilot of the F-15E, which was assigned to the 390th Fighter Squadron at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, ejected safely from the aircraft.
Earlier in August there were nine fatalities when a USAF Lockheed Martin C-130 transport aircraft crashed soon after departing from Jackson, Wyoming, on a White House support mission. Eight crewmembers and a US Secret Service employee were killed in the accident, which happened on 17 August.
In the wake of the crash, the USAF's Air Combat Command suspended routine flight operations for a day of safety training on 23 August. On the same day, however, all four people on board a US Marine Corps Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler were killed when the electronic-warfare aircraft crashed near Yuma, Arizona.
On 22 August, an Air National Guard Fairchild A-10 had crashed in Maryland, and a USMC McDonnell Douglas F-18 Hornet strike aircraft went down in the Atlantic Ocean off the Maryland coastline. Both pilots were killed.
Source: Flight International
