Air Force pilot ejects safely as jet crashes

Jace Radke and Ed Koch

Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2001 | 11:09 a.m.

A U.S. Air Force pilot who ejected to safety after his plane crashed in the Virgin River Gorge was identified today as Capt. Frederick H. Sellers of Fayetteville, N.C.

The aircraft was one of three A-10 Thunderbolt II jets that took off from Nellis Air Force Base about 12:30 p.m. Monday as part of a cross-country training flight. They were en route to Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M., Nellis Air Force Base officials said.

Sellers' twin-engine jet, designed for close air support of ground forces, crashed about 1 p.m. Monday in the Arizona Strip between Mesquite and St. George, Utah, 57th Wing Vice Commander Col. Steve Rapp said.

Sellers was released from Mike O'Callaghan Federal Hospital today after being treated for cuts and bruises, Nellis officials said.

Details about the pilot's experience were not immediately available. He was assigned to the 23rd Fighter Group assigned to Pope Air Force Base in Fayetteville. The group is under of the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson AFB in Goldsboro, N.C.

"The planes were scheduled to fly north from Nellis, make a turn to the east in Arizona and then head south to New Mexico," Rapp said. "The crash site is very close to the turn point on their route, so they may have been making the turn when it happened." Air Force officials today defended the safety of the aircraft that is nicknamed "the Warthog," despite 94 crashes that have taken 47 lives since the plane's deployment in 1976.

This was the first A-10 mishap since Jan. 12, when the pilot in that crash also ejected safely, Air Force spokeswoman Jennifer A. Stephens said today.

"As always, aircraft safety is a priority -- our people and our nation deserve the safest equipment and the best training to meet our national defense mission and to ensure the well-being of our people," Stephens said. "The A-10 is a rugged and reliable aircraft."

Air Force statistics show that A-10 fatalities have declined significantly since 1987, when a record five A-10 pilots were killed. Seventeen airmen have died since then, no more than three in any one year.

On Monday the plane crashed on the upper slopes of the gorge east of Interstate 15. Sellers ejected from the plane and landed on a steep mountain slope near the top of the gorge. He moved about 150 meters down the mountain and used a smoke canister that belched pink smoke to signal for help, Rapp said.

A Metro Police search and rescue helicopter lowered a line to the pilot and used a winch to pull him to safety.

"He was in shock, so he didn't talk too much," Rapp said.

The A-10, an $8.8 million aircraft, was destroyed in the crash, and Air Force investigators have secured the crash site, Rapp said.

"It's too early to tell what happened, and the investigation will take as long as it needs to go for us to find out what happened," Rapp said.

The plane that crashed was carrying only training ammunition, and not its usual heavy weaponry, officials said.

Monday's crash was the second time this year that a military jet that took off from Nellis has crashed. On March 23 a German Tornado fighter-bomber crashed on the air base's range during Red Flag combat exercises involving French, German, British and American aircraft and personnel.

The two crew members on board the plane were killed, and the cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Here are incidents of A-10 crashes in the news compiled by Warthog Territory (a-10.org), a website dedicated to the history of the A-10: