Fighter plane crash claims pilot

INDIANAPOLIS -- Two Indiana Air National Guard F-16 fighter jets collided Monday afternoon on a routine training mission, leaving one pilot dead and the other with minor injuries.\nAt approximately 1:30 p.m., citizens of Oaktown, Ind. reportedly heard a loud boom as the jets collided. Both pilots of the Indiana Air National Guard's 181st Fighter Wing of Terre Haute ejected as one plane crashed in Oaktown and the other fell just outside the Indiana border into Illinois. Major Gen. R. Martin Umbarger, the adjutant general for the state of Indiana, Joint Forces Headquarters, announced that Major William E. Burchett, who joined the 181st Fighter Wing in March 1999, died in the crash. Major Thomas R. Sims of Indianapolis landed safely, suffering only minor injuries. He was treated and released at Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes Monday, Umbarger said.\nCaptain Lisa Kopczynski said both pilots had several years of experience, with 2,200 hours of flight time for Sims and 2,300 hours for Burchett.\nKopczynski said no cause has been determined in the collision yet, but an investigation is currently underway and will release more information as it is found. She said she doesn't know how long that investigation may last, but expects it to take months. She also said that all training flights have been suspended until further notice. Flights may resume as early as this week, but that is yet to be determined.\nThe Joint Forces Headquarters has been cleaning up the debris at the crash site. Kopczynski said the recovery team is surveying the ground and will determine the exact area affected by the accident. Burchett's remains were taken to Indianapolis, where federal forensic experts were to perform an autopsy Tuesday night, Kopczynski said.\nFollowing the accident, Gov. Joe Kernan released a statement saying, "We have all lost another of our favorite sons. It is a reminder that the business of the war fighter is a dangerous one, even when not in combat.\n"Our prayers are with Major Burchett's family at this difficult time."\nBurchett was a former resident of Terre Haute and recently moved to Tennessee. He was a pilot for FedEx who went back to Terre Haute monthly for training in the 181st Fighter Wing. The Indianapolis Star reported he died just five days shy of his 10th wedding anniversary and a month before the birth of his third son. Sims is a resident of southside Indianapolis and a Perry Meridian High School graduate. He is married with four children.\nKopczynski said the collision has had a severe effect on the morale of the pilots in the 181st Fighter Wing, which is one of the reasons training flights have been temporarily suspended.\n"The Joint Forces Headquarters in conjunction with the 181st Fighter Wing ask that prayers go out to both pilot's families," she said. "This is a challenging time for the close-knit group of fighter pilots assigned to the 181st Fighter Wing in Terre Haute, Ind. (Monday's) training accident punctuated the fact that defending freedom is a dangerous business."\n-- Contact staff writer Adam Aasen at aaasen@indiana.edu.