Paul Giblin

The Republic | azcentral.com

The fighter jet crashed around 8:45 a.m. and was located about four hours later

The cause of the crash is unknown, Air Force says

LATEST:Taiwanese pilot in fatal Arizona F-16 crash was father of 2.

Human remains have been found at the crash site of an F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet that went down Thursday in Arizona, according to a Luke Air Force Base statement.

Officials have said a Taiwanese air force student pilot who trained at the base had been flying the fighter jet, and no other crew members were aboard the plane.

Still, a coroner was expected to make the final determination as to whether the remains were those of the student pilot, the statement said.

Earlier Thursday, Luke commanding officer Brig. Gen. Scott Pleus said "all indications lead me to believe that the pilot did not survive the accident."

"However, until we have 100 percent confirmation of his condition, we will continue our search-and-rescue efforts," he said during a press briefing at the base in Glendale.

The pilot was engaged in basic air-to-air combat training when the single-engine jet went down around 8:45 a.m., Pleus said. Air Force officials have not determined what caused the crash.

Air Force personnel have secured the site and have started an investigation. Taiwanese air force officials are welcome to join the investigation started by the Air Force, he said.

Air-to-air combat training

A U.S. Air Force instructor pilot, who was in another F-16, reported the crash and stayed in the area until he was relieved by pilots in other planes, Pleus said. Still, authorities couldn't find the exact crash site for four hours.

The pilot's family, who live near Luke, and the Taiwanese government were notified about the crash, Pleus said. The pilot had trained at Luke alongside other Taiwanese pilots for about six months. The U.S. Air Force did not release the pilot's name or say whether the pilot attempted to eject before impact.

The jet was part of the 21st Fighter Squadron at Luke.

Pilots from the U.S. Air Force and several allied nations' armed forces train together on F-16s and F-35 Lightning II fighter jets at Luke. The Taiwanese air force owned the F-16A single-seat fighter jet.

Local hunters who saw the plane go down directed Yavapai County Sheriff's Office personnel to a remote site where a plume of smoke rose, said Sheriff's Office spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn. A helicopter search-and-rescue crew located the plane around 12:45 p.m.

Pleus said the plane went down near Bagdad, a mining town in Yavapai County, about 80 miles northwest of Luke. Earlier in the day, D'Evelyn said the crash site was northwest of Wickenburg, a town at the northern edge of Maricopa County.

The towns in rural north-central Arizona are less than 60 miles apart. The terrain was fairly flat at the crash site, which was a few miles from a road, Pleus said.

Air-to-air combat training is rigorous and requires physical strength and stamina, Pleus said.

"This training is absolutely critical for teaching our young pilots how to maneuver their aircraft in relationship to one another in order to gain and achieve a tactical advantage," he said.

The Taiwanese pilot had gone through similar air-to-air combat training exercises numerous times, the general said.

Officials in the Governor's Office monitored developments throughout the day, a spokesman for Gov. Doug Ducey said.

The state dispatched personnel from the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s Hazardous Materials Unit, Explosives Ordinance Disposal Unit and Aviation Unit to assist military and local officials at the site.

"As further details become available, Arizona stands at the ready to provide any state resources or manpower needed to assist in any and all response and recovery efforts," Ducey spokeswoman Annie Dockendorff said in a statement.

Some F-16s carry a pilot and a second crew member, but the Taiwanese pilot was alone in the plane Thursday.

Other F-16 incidents

The 56th Fighter Wing at Luke is the Air Force's only active-duty F-16 training unit. It graduates more than 400 F-16 pilots a year. F-16 pilots at Luke flew 16,493 training missions last year.

Luke operated 89 F-16s in December, though the number has diminished as F-16s transfer to Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico and newer F-35 Lightning II fighter jets arrive at Luke.

Thursday's crash is the third such incident with a Luke-affiliated F-16 in less than three years, but Pleus advised against drawing connections among them.

"I would caution against making a decision about whether we've had any sort of a pattern after three crashes," Plues said in response to a reporter's question.

On Nov. 25, an F-16 crashed in New Mexico. A student pilot who was stationed at Holloman safely ejected before it came down.

The $22.7 million plane crashed on a military range about 45 miles north of Holloman. The jet was part of the 54th Fighter Group, which is under the command of the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke.

The Air Force is still investigating the cause of the incident and results are typically issued about six months after an incident.

On June 26, 2013, an instructor pilot and a student pilot safely ejected from a two-seat, single-engine F-16 before it flew unmanned in a 9-mile circle northwest of Luke.

The plane circled back, lost altitude and cratered into a dirt field just outside the base. Investigators determined three small birds flew into the jet’s engine, resulting in “degraded engine performance” shortly after takeoff on a so-called "touch and go" landing and takeoff exercise.

Officials blamed the crash on the instructor pilot’s handling of the aircraft after the bird strikes. The president of a safety board team looking into the incident “found by clear and convincing evidence that the cause of the mishap was a decision-making error by the (instructor pilot),” the investigative report stated.

The Air Force has not released the names of the pilots involved in the earlier incidents.

Wickenburg is located along Hassayampa River. Its population is about 6,300. The town is a popular tourist destination that features a storied mining history.

The Bagdad townsite and nearby copper and molybdenum mine are owned by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold. Molybdenum is a mineral that's used to strengthen steel. The town is home to approximately 2,500 people.

Republic reporter Yvonne Wingett Sanchez contributed to this article.