" Friday Jun 15, 2007 16:24:58 EDT

An Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed early Friday morning in Iraq while on a combat mission.

There was no word on the pilot’s fate.

The jet from the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing at Balad Air Base crashed at 12:27 a.m. while on a close-air support mission, according to an Air Force statement.

In Columbus, Ohio, an Ohio National Guard spokesman said the pilot, whom he did not identify, was a member of the 180th Fighter Wing based in Toledo. Spokesman Mark Wayda said about 270 of the unit's 1,000 members were deployed to Iraq last month.

The F-16 was the third Falcon to crash inside Iraq since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003.

On Nov. 27, Maj. Troy Gilbert was killed when he wasn’t able to pull his jet out of dive while making a strafing run on a truck that was involved in earlier attack on U.S. helicopters.

The first crash was on June 12, 2003, when a pilot flying back to his base miscalculated his fuel situation and allowed the engine to run out fuel. That pilot, Capt. Jon S. Wheeler, safely ejected."

Well 3 in 4 years isn't bad, I think our Airforce is doing a great job as always.
The only prob is i've always heard we had the best Airforce in the world but it seems like quite a few countries are competing with us.

They say the United States is the best because they spend the most, and have more jets. Dosn't mean their jets are superior, which have been proven in the Balkans.

Well as you said the F-22 may cost extreme amounts of money but isn't the best. I believe in 10 years America will be in the top 5 but not the best.

They may be still "Number one" but who knows, the United States is making a killing in Iraq, such as the people who hold stocks in military companies.

Well i know Cheney is making a killing off of Halliburton, i got a cuz who is goin to Iraq on the 24th to do HVAC work for KBR and is getting $98,000 a year. KBR is a part of halliburton so if the HVAC technicians are making $98,000 imagine what the company is making. my cuz is going to camp anaconda.

So hes doing work at the Airforce base?

I guess its Airforce not real sure, i just know its a military base.

Well good luck to him then.

Yea he's scared as shit but theres gonna be 40,000 troops on base, and its in a green zone so i think he'll be ok.