Crash-landed Thunderbird captures attention
A special team of crash investigators is expected to arrive Saturday to begin looking into the cause of Thursday’s mishap involving an F-16 Thunderbird.
The USAF Air Combat Command is heading up the investigation, which is expected to take several months.
SSgt. Kaitlyn Maricle, spokesman for the group, said, “The Command conducts what we call an accident investigation board, in which we uncover every possible detail that we can and answer every possible question that we can, as to the cause of the mishap. That usually takes a few months. Our best best is one to four months.”
The last time a Thunderbird went down was in 2003 in Idaho.
Because of Thursday’s crash, Saturday’s performance in New Mexico was postponed, and all future performances are on hold pending the results of the investigation.
In the meantime, the jet remains in the exact spot it landed, and the famous aircraft is capturing the attention of people driving on a major El Paso County road.
This comes after a Thunderbird pilot had been released from the hospital Friday. Maj. Alexander Turner landed his plane near Peterson Air Force Base Thursday after a performance at the Air Force Academy graduation.
Air Force officials said Turner veered his plane away from a neighborhood and landed on a field outside the air force base with most of the plane still intact.
When people found out about the location of the Thunderbird it attracted a crowd and most people started to take pictures and videos, which law agencies said can be unsafe.
Law agencies have been urging people to not stop, because it can cause a safety hazard when they pull off on a major road.
“It’s very rare that you get a picture of a Thunderbird up close, but we want people to make sure they understand that their curiosity could cause harm to someone else as they are going up and down the Powers corridor,” El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Jacqueline Kirby said.
Marco Cordova said taking pictures of the Thunderbirds up close doesn’t happen everyday.
“This is amazing. This is once in a lifetime. I mean you don’t see this all the time so that’s what it is,” he said.
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said they will not ticket people who are on the side of the road, but deputies will tell drivers to move along.
ATV teams have also been out telling people to not stop on the side of the road as well.
The Sheriff’s Office said it did ticket one person Thursday for obstruction.
