U.S. Warplane Crashes on Its Way to Patrol Iraqi No-Fly Zone, Pilot Rescued

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- A U.S. F-16 fighter jet heading for a patrol over northern Iraq
crashed in Turkey on Wednesday after apparently suffering engine problems, the first U.S.
warplane to go down in more than 200,000 flights over the no-fly zones. 

The pilot, Lt. Michael A. Nelson, Jr., parachuted from the airplane safely and was in good
health at Incirlik air base in Turkey, said Maj. Scott Vadnais, spokesman for the allied
patrols over northern Iraq. 

The F-16 went down near the town of Diyarbakir, 60 miles from the Iraqi border, and U.S.
officials said there was no hostile fire directed at it. 

The Turkish military said in a statement that the aircraft crashed due to engine failure, but
the U.S. military declined to comment on the cause of the crash. Vadnais said an inquiry
would be conducted. 

Although no U.S. warplanes have gone down during 10 years of patrols of the northern and
southern no-fly zones, two U.S. helicopters were shot down over northern Iraq by friendly
fire. Two U.S. F-15 Eagles shot down the two U.S. Army helicopters in 1994 after
mistakenly identifying them as Iraqi helicopters, killing 26 people. 

The F-16 that crashed Wednesday was part of the 510th Fighter Squadron based in Aviano
air base in Italy. 

"There were two planes flying east, then one suddenly turned north and started losing
altitude," witness Abdulselam Ozkan told the Anatolia news agency. "We saw a pilot jump
out with a parachute, then the plane smashed into the ground with a massive
crash." 

Some 25 residents put out the fire caused by the plane's crash, Anatolia said. 

The crash comes as Iraq has been firing more often and from beefed-up air defense facilities
at U.S. and British aircraft that patrol the no-fly zones. 

Some 50 U.S. warplanes, including F-15 and F-16 fighters, are based in Incirlik. The aircraft
patrol a no-fly zone over northern Iraq. 

The United States and Britain have been enforcing no-fly zones over northern and southern
Iraq since the end of the Gulf War in 1991. 

Iraq, which regards the zones as violations of its territorial sovereignty, has been challenging
the patrols since December 1998. 

Russia, China and France say there is no Security Council authorization for the no-fly zones;
Britain and the United States say they were authorized under resolutions calling for the
protection of Shiite Muslims in southern Iraq and Kurds in the north. 

Wednesday's crash was the Air Force's third F-16 crash this month and the six since March. 
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