VIA 12news: An Iraqi student pilot is dead, officials with the Arizona Air National Guard said, after an F-16 crashed about near Safford Tuesday.
With an order of 36 aircraft, U.S. and Iraqi Airmen made history Dec. 16, 2014, after delivering the Iraqi air force F-16D aircraft to Tucson. The sale included an agreement for the U.S. to train the Iraqi pilots in Arizona.
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According to officials, the pilot was conducting an F-16 training mission with the Arizona Air National Guard’s 162nd Wing in Tucson when the plane went down around 3 p.m. about 20 miles northwest of Safford.
The United States Air Force is currently training Iraqi pilots to fly F-16 fighters at the request of their government, and the crashed plane belonged to the Iraqi Air Force, officials said.
Officials said these pilots are “vital to their country’s defense.”
No word on what caused the crash.
The Air Force is investigating.
Pictured above, an Iraqi student in Tucson, “captain Hama,” celebrated the arrival of the aircraft with his fellow students in 2014. It is not known if Huma was involved in the crash but he is apparently part of the same program that allows Iraqis students to fly F-16 Fighter jets in populated American cities.