Air Force chief of staff presents Kolligian Trophy Published Aug. 5, 2004 WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper presented the Kolligian Trophy to Capt. Michael Matesick during a ceremony July 30 in the Pentagon. Captain Matesick, currently assigned to Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., earned the air safety award for saving his damaged aircraft in the sky over Iraq in June 2003.The captain is credited for his quick actions and smart thinking during an in-flight emergency during an Operation Iraqi Freedom mission. While piloting his F-16 Fighting Falcon over Iraq on a moonless night at 25,000 feet, Captain Matesick's aircraft experienced engine difficulties requiring him to abort the mission. The engine suffered a major malfunction and was about to seize. He jettisoned his external fuel tanks and bombs and quickly established his aircraft on course for a flameout landing at Baghdad International Airport, 35 miles away.The captain retold the story to his guests at the ceremony of how he recovered.“We were fragged for a (close-air support) mission that night and it was pretty uneventful,” he said. “All of a sudden I heard a loud bang in the jet. (There were) very violent vibrations to the point were I couldn’t read the (heads-up display) or flight instruments.”Captain Matesick radiod another pilot in his flight. “I keyed the mike and said, ‘Hey, Two, I think I got a problem up here.’ He said, ‘Yeah, no kidding One, you got all kinds of sparks coming out the back of your engine, and that’s probably not good.’“I started coordinating with Baghdad,” Capt. Matesick said. “As we got closer to Baghdad, about 10 miles away, I was starting to feel more comfortable; started thinking this was going to be easy. Then I find out the runway was closed.”Captain Matesick eventually found an available taxiway, and lined up on it.“I was able to see some light that turned out to be a taxiway,” he said. “I found out how wide it was and asked, ‘Oh, by the way, is there anybody standing out there and, if so, can you clear them out of the way for me?’” The pilot executed a flawless power-off landing on the dimly lit, 90-foot-wide strip.“The greatest landing I ever felt was when the (landing gear) hit the pavement that night,” Matesick said. “I had a grin from ear to ear.”The Koren Kolligian Jr. Trophy is presented each year in the name and memory of an Air Force pilot, a first lieutenant, who was declared missing in the line of duty when his T-33 aircraft disappeared off the California coast Sept. 14, 1955. The trophy was established to recognize outstanding feats of airmanship by aircrew members who by extraordinary skill, exceptional alertness, ingenuity or proficiency, averted accidents or minimized the seriousness of the accidents in terms of injury, loss of life, aircraft damage or property damage. The trophy, established in 1958, is the only Air Force individual safety award personally presented by the Air Force chief of staff. Members of the Kolligian family attended the ceremony, as they do every year. Captain Matesick was stationed at Hill AFB, Utah, at the time of his deployment to Iraq.