Alaska joint force officials continue search for F-22 Raptor pilot

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jack Sanders
  • 3rd Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (AFNS) --  Operations continue in the effort to find a missing F-22 Raptor pilot Nov. 18, approximately 100 miles north of Anchorage.

The Alaska Air National Guard Rescue Coordination Center, the 3rd Wing and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson search and rescue teams continue to search the area for the F-22 pilot.

"We want to know if the ejector seat is in the crash or is he is out in the area somewhere," said Lt. Col. Scott Jackson, the emergency operations center director. "Once we determine that, then we'll begin securing the aircraft crash site and ensuring its safe."

There are many challenges that come with an operation on a scale and in a location like this, Colonel Jackson said.

"Obviously Alaska's size, terrain and weather conditions make an operation like this difficult, logistically," said Col. Jack McMullen, the 3rd Wing commander. "The training area where the F-22 crashed is larger than the state of Vermont. It's remote, with no maintained roads in the winter and the terrain is very rugged. All these factors complicate the process even in good weather. When you factor in sub-zero temperatures and the potential for heavy snowfall, you see this is truly a massive undertaking."

Because of hazardous material with the aircraft such as fuel, flares, and other dangerous items, there is a lot of work that goes into ensuring the safety of the site, Colonel Jackson said.

Operations involving the recovery are being coordinated through the emergency operation center at JB Elmendorf and the on-scene commander.

"It's hard to put what we're doing into words," Colonel Jackson said. "What we're doing is like building a small city of support to supply the site. We're setting up an airport and hotel in the middle of nowhere essentially."

Colonel Jackson said, without communications nothing can be accomplished.

"Coordination between staff agencies, military services, state agencies and our higher headquarters is crucial," Colonel McMullen said.

"We have to identify and prioritize the correct personnel, equipment and supplies for each step of the mission, and then get them where they need to be -- when they need to be there," he said. "We can't do this alone; it requires coordination with the entire joint base community and the Alaska state authorities."

Inside the EOC at JB Elmendorf, a representative of each specific agency is continuously sending and receiving information from their respective agency to continue the mission.

(Col. Robert Evans, the JB Elmendorf commander) and my Airmen are totally integrated in this effort," Colonel McMullen said.

"The Alaska Air Guard's 176th Wing's 210th, 211th, 212th Rescue Squadrons along with ANG Rescue Coordination Center Airmen were instrumental in finding the crash site and getting our first Airmen there on the ground," he said. "U.S. Army Alaska is providing equipment and rotary wing lift to help establish our footprint at the site. Local police are helping and Alaska Department of Transportation personnel and equipment are plowing roads to help with access."

More information will be released as it becomes available.