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originally posted by: Zaphod58
The two victims on the Cessna were Michael Johnson, 68, and his son Joseph Johnson, 30, who was flying the plane. The F-16 was practicing approaches into Joint Base Charleston at the time. Joseph Johnson was a former Minor League baseball player for the Atlanta Braves. His body has still not been found.
On Saturday, Michael Johnson's brother and sister-in-law were found murdered in their home in Missouri. Their 16 year old grandson has been charged with second degree murder.
originally posted by: Zaphod58
The two victims on the Cessna were Michael Johnson, 68, and his son Joseph Johnson, 30, who was flying the plane. The F-16 was practicing approaches into Joint Base Charleston at the time. Joseph Johnson was a former Minor League baseball player for the Atlanta Braves. His body has still not been found.
On Saturday, Michael Johnson's brother and sister-in-law were found murdered in their home in Missouri. Their 16 year old grandson has been charged with second degree murder.
USAF officials confirmed with the NTSB that the F-16 was performing a practice tactical air navigation system instrument approach to runway 15 of the Charleston Airport.
The following is taken directly from the NTSB report.
The controller instructed the F-16 pilot to fly a heading of 260 degrees to intercept the final approach course.
At 10:55, the controller instructed the F-16 pilot to descend from his present altitude of 6,000 feet to 1,600 feet. About that time, the F-16 was located about 34 nautical miles northeast of CHS.
At 10:57:41, a radar target displaying a visual flight rules transponder code of 1200, and later correlated to be the accident Cessna, appeared in the vicinity of the departure end of runway 23 at MKS, at an indicated altitude of 200 feet.
The Cessna continued its climb, and began tracking generally southeast over the next 3 minutes.
For the duration of its flight, the pilot of the Cessna did not contact CHS approach control, nor was he required to do so.
At 11:00:18, the controller advised the pilot of the F-16, "traffic 12 o'clock, 2 miles, opposite direction, 1,200 [feet altitude] indicated, type unknown."
The F-16 pilot responded and advised the controller that he was "looking" for the traffic.
At 11:00:26, the controller advised the F-16 pilot, "turn left heading 180 if you don't have that traffic in sight." The pilot responded by asking, "confirm 2 miles?"
Eight seconds later, the controller stated, "if you don't have that traffic in sight turn left heading 180 immediately."
Over the next 18 seconds, the track of the F-16 began turning southerly.
At 11:00:49, the radar target of the F-16 was located 1/2 nautical mile northeast of the Cessna, at an indicated altitude of 1,500 feet, and was on an approximate track of 215 degrees.
At that time, the Cessna reported an indicated altitude of 1,400 feet, and was established on an approximate track of 110 degrees.
At 11:00:52 the controller advised the F-16 pilot, "traffic passing below you 1,400 feet." At 1100:54, the radar reported altitude of the F-16 remained at 1,500 feet and no valid altitude information was returned for the radar target associated with the Cessna.
At that point the targets were laterally separated by about 1,000 feet.
No further radar targets were received from the Cessna, and the next radar target for the F-16 was not received until 11:01:13.
At 11:01:19, the F-16 pilot transmitted a distress call, and no subsequent transmissions were received.
Air traffic control radar continued to track the F-16 as it proceeded on a roughly southerly track, and after descending to an indicated altitude of 300 feet, radar contact was lost at 11:03:17 in the vicinity of the F-16 crash site.