(Shaw Air Force Base) April 5, 2006 - The Coast Guard says the pilot of an F-16 fighter jet that crashed Wednesday in the Atlantic Ocean about 35 miles off Myrtle Beach has been found alive.
Petty Officer Bobby Nash says the pilot, Captain Ted Shultz with the 55th Fighter Squadron, was found about two hours after the crash. He appeared to be in stable condition. He was picked up by a Navy ship, then taken by coast guard helicopter to MUSC.
Air Force Lieutenant Bryan Cox says the jet was on a training mission from Shaw Air Force Base when it went down around 5:40pm. Lt. Bryan Cox says, "It's an intense thing. It's a last-ditch effort. Basically, a pilot says they are giving up on this aircraft."
Lt. Cox says they don't know why the $30 million jet went down. There will be an independent accident board investigation, but that's not the focus right now, according to Lt. Cox, "Right now, it's the safety of the pilot. You can replace an aircraft, but you can't replace a pilot."
A board of officers will investigate the accident.
It was almost exactly a year ago when another Shaw F-16 crashed. And it was almost the exact same scenario as Wednesday's crash.
The F-16 was on a routine training mission when the pilots reported there was something wrong with the engine. Minutes later, the pilots ejected. The plane crashed in a marsh in Charleston.
The people who saw it all happen say that's a miracle the pilots were able to walk away from the fiery crash, virtually unharmed. The crash was later determined to be a maintenance error.
After last year's crash, the F-16s were grounded for routine inspections. On a normal day, fighter jets at Shaw Air Force Base take off for training missions about 40 times a day.
Reported by Heather Brown
Updated 11:18pm by Chantelle Janelle