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Air Force '99.9 percent' sure debris is crashed jet
Bad weather may hamper searchers
April 20, 1997Web posted at: 10:09 p.m. EDT (0209 GMT)
EAGLE, Colorado (CNN) -- An Air Force general says he is "99.9 percent" sure searchers have located the crash site of an A-10 Thunderbolt jet missing since April 2.
Maj. Gen. Nels Running said that debris seen protruding from snow high on a sheer slope in the New York Mountain range was "consistent with the metal on an A-10."
Running said there was no sign of the pilot, Air Force Capt. Craig Button, 32, nor was there any way of telling whether he had ejected from the plane. The debris was found on the side of a 12,500-foot peak about 15 miles southwest of Vail.
Running said no one has been able to get close enough to the site to determine for certain that it is the plane, but at a press conference Sunday afternoon there seemed little doubt.
The debris was spotted at 11:20 a.m. Sunday by two members of the Colorado Army National Guard. The two were in a helicopter over an area that had been searched before, and Running said "significant snow melt" in the past few days made the sighting possible.
Just a few pieces of debris were spotted, and Running described them as being 18 inches to 2 feet wide and several feet long. Among the things noted on them, he said, was a paint commonly used as an undercoating in the military.
The jet -- a close-support aircraft nicknamed "Warthog" -- has been missing since April 2, when Button took off from a Tucson, Arizona, base on a routine training mission and veered north, heading to Colorado.
Bad weather may hamper searchers
Running described the terrain where the debris was spotted as very steep and snow-covered at an altitude of approximately 12,500 feet. The search helicopter had to get within 30 feet of a sheer rock face to find the pieces, he said.
Running said a helicopter landed on a ridge a half-mile away, but it was "extremely sheer," and there was no way searchers could get closer to the wreckage.
A heavy-duty helicopter is being brought in and will be used to lower searchers to the wreckage, though Running isn't sure how soon that will be. The weather forecast for Sunday night and Monday is for snow, and high winds are also a consideration.
"We're going to retrieve as much as we can," he said.
While the plane was carrying four, 500-pound bombs, Running said he was not concerned that they might be a danger to anyone.
"That area is very inaccessible," he said. "I don't expect anyone there on foot."
Related stories:
- Debris found on mountain; may be missing warplane - April 20, 1997
- Search for A-10 pilot to begin one last round - April 17, 1997
- Family, friends baffled by pilot's disappearance - April 13, 1997
- Air Force downplays chance that pilot stole jet - April 8, 1997
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window- U.S. Air Force - A-10 Fact Sheet
- A-10 Warthog Homepage - Major Ed Walker
- 355th Wing - Davis Monthan AFB
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