News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Second F-15C Located

Date: March 29, 2001

"Second F-15C wreckage found, search for pilot suspended

03/28/01 - ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England (AFPN) -- Search and rescue teams located and identified the second missing U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagle aircraft March 28 about 400 yards from the wreckage of the first aircraft on the summit of Ben Macdui in the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland.

The discovery was made at 5 p.m. local time after Royal Air Force and civilian mountain rescue teams searched since first light to locate the aircraft. Officials on-site said the teams experienced some of the worst weather conditions seen in the last 17 years including temperatures of minus 24 degrees Fahrenheit, severe avalanche risk and zero visibility.

Because of fading light and deteriorating weather conditions, the search has been suspended until first light March 29 when the teams will continue the search for further wreckage and the remaining missing pilot, Capt. Kirk Jones.

Lt. Col. Kenneth Hyvonen, 40, from the 48th Operations Support Squadron, and Jones, from the 493rd Fighter Squadron here were each piloting an F-15C, when both disappeared off radar March 26 over northern Scotland.

Hyvonen's remains, and the wreckage of the first F-15C were located March 27.

The F-15C aircraft is a single-seat, all-weather, tactical fighter designed to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat.

A board of U.S. Air Force officers will investigate the cause of the accident."