Iraqi brigadier general flying F-16 that crashed near Douglas

An Iraqi pilot who has been training in the United States for four years was flying an F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft that crashed in southern Arizona, a spokesman for the Iraqi defense minister said Thursday."We have no word yet on his fate or the reason behind the crash," Brig. Gen. Tahseen Ibrahim told The Associated Press. "We are in contact with the Americans to get more details."

Ibrahim confirmed the pilot is Brig. Gen. Rafid Mohammed Hassan.

The fighter crashed about 8 p.m. Wednesday in grassland some five miles away from the Douglas airport during a night training mission, Arizona Air National Guard spokeswoman 2nd Lt. Lacey Roberts said in a news release late Wednesday.The pilot was enrolled in the international training program in Tucson run by the Arizona Air National Guard’s 162nd Wing, which includes about 40 students from Iraq, Singapore, Poland, Norway, Denmark, Oman, Belgium, and the Netherlands, Roberts said Thursday morning.The plane flown by the Iraqi pilot belonged to the Iraqi Air Force, Roberts said. Iraq bought F-16s from Lockheed Martin, but “due to the security situation” in Iraq, some of the aircraft were delivered to Arizona.

The Iraqi government ordered 18 F-16s in 2011 for $3 billion and 18 more in 2012, Reuters reported.
The Guard began training Iraqi pilots in 2012 at the request of the Iraqi government and the first Iraqi F-16 arrived in December 2014, Roberts said. Since then, the Guard has received one Iraqi F-16 each month.Initial reports incorrectly said two F-16 fighters were involved in the crash. Roberts clarified that two aircraft were involved in the training mission, but only one aircraft crashed. The Iraqi pilot was the only person aboard the crashed F-16.

Roberts did not have any information about the fate of the pilot as of Thursday morning. Rescue crews are at the scene of the crash, she said, adding the pilot will be identified by the Iraqi government.The crash caused a fire, delaying law enforcement from immediately investigating the crash site.An initial report to 911 came from a woman who said "there was an airplane on fire in her front yard,” said Carol Capas, a spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff’s Department.

She said the wreck burned an area of grassland some 400 yards wide and nearly a quarter-mile long. The fire continued to smolder Thursday morning, but it had been declared contained since Wednesday night.Initial reports indicated that the F-16 might have ruptured a nearby gas line, but Capas said today it did not.An investigation at the crash scene could last through the weekend, officials said.