| Agence
France Presse May 21, 2004 SINGAPORE A SINGAPORE air force pilot has died after his fighter jet crashed while on a night training flight in the United States, the defence ministry said here Friday, May 21. The ministry identified the pilot as Lieutenant Loo Kwang Han, 25, who was flying an F-16C plane that crashed in rugged terrain near the Mexican border on Wednesday night. The ministry had said on Thursday the jet went missing 45 minutes into a training flight with two other jets after taking off from Luke Air Force base in Arizona. It did not give a reason for the crash. The Republic of Singapore Air Force has had a detachment program at the US base since 1993. The ministry said Loo had obtained his pilot wings in July 2001 and qualified to fly an F-16 in January 2003. The Straits Times newspaper said the incident was the second time the Singapore Air Force has lost an F-16 in the United States. In May 2002 an American pilot ejected to safety from a Singaporean F-16, valued at about S$20 million (US$11.6 million), which also crashed in the Arizona desert. |
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