LOSS OF CONSCIOUSNESS LEADS TO FATAL F-16 CRASH Published Sept. 2, 2008 By Tim Barela Torch Magazine RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- On July 3, Air Force officials completed an investigation of the March 14 F-16 Fighting Falcon accident in Arizona that resulted in the death of a pilot. The pilot was assigned to the 62nd Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz. The accident investigation board determined the cause of the mishap was the pilot's loss of consciousness from not properly managing high gravitational forces while executing a turning maneuver. At the time of the mishap, the pilot was flying a training mission involving simulated air-to-air combat "dogfights" between himself and the mission instructor pilot, also of the 62nd FS. The $22 million aircraft went down in an unpopulated Bureau of Land Management wilderness area 71 miles northwest of Luke and was destroyed. There were no civilian injuries as a result of this mishap.