Pilot Unaccounted For

The search continues in the Arizona desert near the Mexican border for a Royal Singapore Air Force pilot whose F-16C (file photo of type, right) crashed during a training mission Wednesday night.

Military officials say the aircraft was flying a routine mission in the Sells MOA after launching from Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix. The Air Force says contact was lost with the aircraft about 45-minutes into the flight. Fifteen minutes after that, the F-16C disappeared from radar.

The wreckage was located south of the Barry Goldwater Mountain Range Thursday. But as this story was being published, rescue teams dispatched to the MOA had not yet found the pilot. Military officials have not yet released his identity.

Singapore and the US have an agreement to train F-16 crews at Luke AFB. In 2003, the agreement was extended for 15 years.

This isn't the first time an RSAF F-16 has gone down in the desert near Phoenix. Two years ago, an American pilot on a training mission aboard an RSAF F-16 crashed not far from where Wednesday's wreckage was located. The pilot in that accident was able to safely eject.

FMI: www.luke.af.mil