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Forces pilot dies as CF-18 crashes in bush
CFB Cold Lake, Alta.
Chris Wattie
National Post
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
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A Canadian Forces pilot died yesterday after his CF-18 fighter jet plunged to earth and crashed, leaving a towering column of smoke over the northern Alberta bush.
Captain Leah Gillespie, a spokeswoman for 4 Wing in Cold Lake, Alta., where the downed fighter was based, said the pilot‘s body was found in its parachute several hundred metres from the wreckage.
"We don‘t really know what caused the accident," Capt. Gillespie said.
The Canadian Forces was not releasing the name of the pilot, from the 416 Tactical Fighter Squadron, last night.
His plane went down early yesterday afternoon about 50 kilometres north of Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake, in the massive air weapons range that straddles the Saskatchewan-Alberta border.
Capt. Gillespie said the CF-18 was one of a flight of two jets participating in the air force‘s annual Maple Flag training exercise at the time of the crash.
"He was on a simulated bombing run at the time," she said. "There was another CF-18 in the area, flying what we call ‘top cover‘ for him."
When the first jet went down, his escort was able to call in a CH-146 Griffon search and rescue helicopter from Cold Lake almost immediately, she said.
They found the pilot dead when they arrived.
Capt. Gillespie said the accident is under investigation, but could not say if the pilot had time to issue a mayday or if the high-performance jet showed any signs of being in trouble before the crash.
The weather was poor at the time, but it was not know if that was a factor.
The crash came in the midst of Operation Maple Flag, an international air combat exercise. There were 60 aircraft in the air around the Cold Lake Air Weapons range when the plane went down, Capt. Gillespie said.
In 2000, a U.S. Air Force F-16 went down during Operation Maple Flag.
Defence spokesmen said there have been 11 fatal crashes since the Canadian Forces bought the CF-18 in 1982, the last one occurring near Cold Lake in 1995.
The last crash was in August, 1996, when a CF-18 went down on takeoff from Iqaluit, Nunavut. The pilot of that jet ejected safely and suffered only minor injuries.
Canada spent $5-billion to buy 138 of the jets, built by McDonnell Douglas Corporation of St. Louis, Mo., in 1982. They were bought at the height of the Cold War to defend Canada‘s northern airspace and meet the country‘s NATO commitments.
However, their most famous role was likely during the 1991 Gulf War, when 24 of the fighter-bombers based in Qatar became the most visible Canadian contribution to the war.
Canadian pilots flew about 2,700 combat air patrol missions in the Gulf.
The CF-18s also participated in the 1999 air campaign over Kosovo.
Since then, however, the Department of National Defence has reduced the size of its CF-18 fleet to save money.
Ottawa is also negotiating with the Czech Republic to sell the former Soviet bloc nation up to 15 of its CF-18s, drawn from the 41 aircraft to be declared surplus after an upgrade program for the jets is complete.
The Canadian military is spending an estimated $1.7-billion upgrading 80 CF-18 fighters with new computer systems, radars and radios, as well as smart bombs.
The military took delivery of its first upgraded CF-18 fighter about two weeks ago, but defence spokesmen said the downed fighter was not one of these jets.
The first eight of the upgraded aircraft are expected to be operating in November. The final batch will be delivered in the summer of 2006.
The CF-18 modernization program will also build in night-vision systems, electronic warfare programs and new targeting sights, all to be purchased over the next 10 years.
cwattie@nationalpost.com
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