Authorities call off search for missing F-16 pilot

  • Published
  • By Gerry J. Gilmore
  • American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON (AFNS) --  Authorities are still looking for the wreckage of an F-16 Fighting Falcon that crashed with its pilot into the Atlantic Ocean off South Carolina's coast Oct. 15.

An official at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., said Oct. 19 that there is nothing new to report since authorities announced Oct. 17 that Capt. Nicholas Giglio likely didn't survive a mid-air collision with another F-16.

Shaw Air Force Base is the home of the 20th Fighter Wing, to which the jets belong.

Two F-16s on a routine training exercise collided over the Atlantic Ocean about 40 miles east of Folly Beach, S.C., around 8:30 p.m. Oct. 15. The pilot of one plane, Capt. Lee Bryant, was able to safely land his damaged jet at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C.

Captain Giglio, the other pilot, was reported missing. Coast Guard officials in Charleston, S.C., announced Oct. 17 that they were suspending the search-and-rescue operation.

"In spite of an intense search conducted by hundreds of professionals from the Coast Guard, Navy and Air Force, we have found no trace of Captain Nicholas Giglio," said Col. Joe Guastella, the 20th Fighter Wing commander Oct. 17.

Preliminary investigation of the accident revealed that the mid-air impact probably proved fatal to the pilot, who wasn't seen to have ejected from his stricken aircraft, Colonel Guastella said.

Authorities at Shaw pledged to make every effort to recover Captain Giglio's aircraft and his remains.

"The thoughts and prayers of all of us at Shaw are with Nicholas Giglio, his family, and his friends," Colonel Guastella said.

Coast Guard searchers found crash debris believed to belong to Captain Giglio's F-16 jet the day after the accident.

"The Coast Guard has found some debris in the ocean that is apparently from our missing F-16," said Robert Sexton, the Shaw Air Force Base Public Affairs chief during an Oct. 16 telephone interview with American Forces Press Service.