F-16 Fighting Falcon News

February 13, 2000 (by Lieven Dewitte) - A Turkey vulture was blamed for a crash that killed the pilot of an Air Force F-16 jet last July.
The fighter plane, which was on a training mission from Homestead Air Reserve Base, went down shortly after the bird hit the canopy. A Turkey vulture typically weighs five to seven pounds.

Reserve Maj. Samuel D'Angelo, an American Airlines pilot and a 19-year military veteran, was killed in the crash about 150 miles north of Miami.