An Iraqi student jet fighter pilot was killed when an F-16 jet crashed during a training mission in southeastern Arizona, US authorities said on Wednesday.
The Iraqi Air Force identified the pilot as Captain Noor Faleh Rassan al-Khazali, but did not list an age or hometown.
Al-Khazali was killed on Tuesday when his plane went down in the southern Arizona desert, during what an Arizona Air National Guard official called a routine training mission.
The US Air Force has activated a team to investigate the crash, which happened about 129km northwest of Tucson, Air Guard First Lieutenant Lacey Roberts of the 162nd Wing said.
The Iraqi Ministry of Defense said it woud join in the investigation.
Roberts could not immediately say what type of training was being conducted.
The F-16 is used in both air-to-air and air-to-ground combat missions.
Al-Khazali’s death is the second involving an Iraqi pilot flying an F-16 in Arizona in recent years.
Roberts said the plane belonged to the Iraqi Air Force and that the training mission was being conducted in conjunction with the 162nd Wing, which is based at Tucson International Airport.
The jet crashed in desert terrain, leaving a crater and scattered debris, Graham County Undersheriff Carl McCormies said.
The US military trains Iraqi pilots to fly F-16s at the request of Iraq’s government, Roberts said.
In July 2015, an Iraqi brigadier general flying from the 162nd died when his F-16, a newer model recently delivered to the Iraqi Air Force, crashed during night training near Douglas.
In January last year, a Taiwanese pilot on a training flight from Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix was killed when his F-16 went down in Yavapai County.
The 162nd Wing is the Air Guard’s biggest F-16 training operation and conducts training missions across southern and central Arizona military ranges.
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