Fighter Goes Down Off Okinawa Coast

The pilot of an Air Force F-15 Eagle that went down Tuesday in waters off of Okinawa, Japan is safe after ejecting shortly before the fighter went down.

US military officials did not disclose what caused the pilot to eject from the 27-year-old F-15, which was from the 44th Fighter Squadron based at Japan's Kadena Air Base. The aircraft was one of four F-15s practicing air-to-air combat maneuvers approximately 65 miles northeast of the air base when the accident occurred.

The Air Force Times reports the pilot, whose name was not released, was pulled from the water just before 11 am local time by rescue crews from the 31st and 33rd Rescue Squadrons also based at Kadena.

After being flown by an HH-60G Pave Hawk to the Camp Lester US Naval Hospital on Okinawa, the unidentified pilot was treated and released.

Officials at Kadena -- which is home to the largest combat wing in the Air Force -- told the AF Times the accident was the first involving one of the base's F-15s since August 2002 -- which, as was reported in Aero-News, resulted in Japan temporarily suspending all F-15 flights from the US-owned base on the Japanese-controlled island.

After flights were reinstated, two F-15s were slightly damaged when the aircraft collided in midair October 4, 2004. Both aircraft -- which were temporarily assigned to Kadena -- landed safely.

FMI: www.af.mil