F-16s Collide, Pilot Missing

Updated: Information and photos of the pilots are available from a local news source.

The Air Force announced that two F-16CJs from Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, had collided over the Atlantic Coast during night training on Thursday.

One, piloted by Capt. Lee Bryant, managed to land at Charleston AFB.  The other, piloted by Captain Nicholas Giglio, is unaccounted for, and Giglio is reported missing.

Coast Guard vessels conducting rescue operations found debris believed to be from the second aircraft.  Regrettably, the absence of an emergency beacon–which normally transmits automatically after an ejection–increases the likelihood that Giglio went down with his aircraft.