No word on the pilot. I hope he or she survived.

Posted: Wednesday, August 27, 2014 11:48 am
AP, STAFF REPORTS

DEERFIELD -- A Massachusetts Air National Guard F-15C fighter jet crashed this morning in a mountainous area of Augusta County about 25 miles west of Staunton, officials said. ... The pilot's status is unknown, military officials said. The Virginia State Police said no injuries were reported on the gorund.

The single-seat jet with the guard's 104th Fighter Wing was on a standard training exercise with no munition aboard, said Maj. Matthew Mutti, a guard spokesman. He didn't say where the aircraft was headed or release the pilot's name.

Virginia State Police and the Augusta County Sheriff's Office said the crash took place about 9:06 a.m. A large boom was heard and smoke rose from a moutainside in the George Washington National Forest. ... Police blocked nearby Old Parkersburg Turnpike, off state Route 629, and about 20 law enforcement vehilces were spotted headed twoard the scene, said Carlos Santos, editor of the Fluvanna Review and a property owner in the area. Santos said several of the vehicles had trailers hauling all-terrain vehicles.

"It's the loudest noise I've ever heard," Rebecca Shinaberry, who lives on a farm about two miles away, told The Associated Press. &quot It) just shook the ground and from my house we could just see a big plume of smoke."

hope nobody was hurt

runs out of funds, just the taxpayers.

I, too, hope no one was hurt.

Last edited Wed Aug 27, 2014, 02:30 PM - Edit history (3)

123.0250 mhz. will be used for all medcom, DMA and other a/c for air to air comms who participate in the search. DMA a/c also will continue to use STARS tg 4529 DMA TAC WEST. "Dustoff 63" is a Blackhawk. DMA aircraft will refuel at Charlottesville AP. Limited cellphone and STARS coverage in the mountainous search area. DMA STARS comms not 100%. Occasionally the DMA a/c called by DMA command does not respond.

Crashed in Augusta Co. this morning. Pilot believed to ejected. Deerfield, VA VFD is DMA ac/ground search contact. Chute sited near Highway 60. Smoke plume seen on or near an unknown mountain...possibly a/c. DMA command and DMA search a/c from Marion, VA and Ft. Pickett and Chesterfield Ops command comms on tg 4529 on STARS Division 1. On site ground comms on VTAC1. "Legend 7&quot Lakota a/c) and "Dustoff 63" helo are the two DMA search aircraft. One a/c may have spotted something in a valley between two mountains. Witness saw a deployed chute.@ 38.203 lat and -79.339 long.

more...

DMA a/c also will refuel at Shenandoah AP. An unknown medcom helicopter (possibly Pegasus from Un. of Va.) is participating in the search now for the pilot. DMA a/c has spotted the plane wreckage at {38.120} lat and -79.381 long. The F15 appears to have crashed straight in and no visible chute near the aircraft per the on scene a/c.

Go here and put in those numbers: http://itouchmap.com/latlong.html

The plane crashed a few miles southwest of where the parachute was seen.

Here's one of this morning's articles.

Search resumes for missing pilot

Brad Zinn, bzinn@newsleader.com 8:50 a.m. EDT August 28, 2014

DEERFIELD – An overnight search did not turn up the missing Air National Guard pilot whose jet crashed in western Augusta County Wednesday morning, the Augusta County Sheriff's Office said.

Helicopters and ground teams scoured an area near Elliot Knob in western Augusta County for the pilot of a downed F-15C "Eagle" from the Air National Guard's 104th Fighter Wing''s Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield, Massachusetts.

More than 100 people searched overnight and an HC-130 search and rescue plane joined the search about 3 a.m.

Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller says Thursday that ground search efforts will resume at 8 a.m. for the missing pilot. She said those efforts were suspended at midnight.

Bad ending.

Air National Guard pilot killed in jet crash had more than 17 years of flying experience

Posted 6:56 am, August 28, 2014, by Sandra Jones and Nick Dutton, Updated at 12:17pm, August 29, 2014

DEER VALLEY, Va. — Officials have released the name of the Massachusetts Air National Guard pilot killed when his F-15C Eagle crashed Wednesday morning in remote mountains near Deerfield Valley, Virginia.

Investigators finally reached the crash site Thursday afternoon after navigating along logging roads, fire trails and forest roads in the rocky and wooded George Washington National Forest. ... Members of the crash investigation team said the pilot, who had not been able to eject from the aircraft, was pronounced dead at the scene. ... Officials announced Friday morning that Lt. Col. Morris “Moose” Fontenot Jr. was killed in the crash.

Fontenot served with the 104th Fighter Wing as the full-time Wing Inspector General, responsible for the implementation of the Air Force Inspection System and as an F-15 instructor pilot with more than 2,300 flight hours. Fontenot, a 1996 Air Force Academy graduate, was also a Weapons School Graduate with more than 17 years of F-15 flying experience.

Fontenot was a decorated combat veteran, earning the Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal, Aerial Achievement Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force Achievement Medal, and Combat Readiness Medal among others.

RIP Lieutenant Colonel Fontenot.

r.i.p.