DieselDragRacer
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A search was under way Wednesday for an overdue Air Force F-22 fighter jet based at a military facility near Anchorage.
Corinna Jones, a spokeswoman at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, said the jet was on a training mission and lost contact with air traffic control at 7:40 p.m. Tuesday. The plane carries one pilot.
The aircraft is assigned to Elmendorf's 3rd Wing, Jones said. The Air Force has not released the pilot's name.
The twin-engine F-22 Raptor entered service in the mid-2000s and arrived at Elmendorf in August 2007. It's far more maneuverable and stealthy than earlier jets and can cruise at more than 1 1/2 times the speed of sound without using its afterburner. Its top speed is confidential.
Congress last year stopped production of the plane, built by Lockheed Martin Corp., by eliminating $1.75 billion that would have added seven F-22s to the Air Force's fleet.
An F-22 crashed in March 2009 near Edwards Air Force Base in California, killing the pilot.
Corinna Jones, a spokeswoman at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, said the jet was on a training mission and lost contact with air traffic control at 7:40 p.m. Tuesday. The plane carries one pilot.
The aircraft is assigned to Elmendorf's 3rd Wing, Jones said. The Air Force has not released the pilot's name.
The twin-engine F-22 Raptor entered service in the mid-2000s and arrived at Elmendorf in August 2007. It's far more maneuverable and stealthy than earlier jets and can cruise at more than 1 1/2 times the speed of sound without using its afterburner. Its top speed is confidential.
Congress last year stopped production of the plane, built by Lockheed Martin Corp., by eliminating $1.75 billion that would have added seven F-22s to the Air Force's fleet.
An F-22 crashed in March 2009 near Edwards Air Force Base in California, killing the pilot.
