He said the remains of the man’s 68-year-old father, Michael, were found earlier that day in the same river.
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“The son, Joseph Johnson, was recovered in about 12 feet of water in the Cooper River” on Wednesday afternoon, Coroner Bill Salisbury in Berkeley County told the Associated Press.
Dennis Diaz, an investigator with the NTSB said in addition to air and ground teams, unmanned drones have been deployed in the search for the missing private pilot.
Authorities are at the two aircraft crash sites, located about 10 miles apart, the coroner said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the rare collision between a military craft and a civilian plane, sifting through data to determine what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening again.
After the conclusion of the on-scene investigation, which will include examining debris and gathering witnesses’ testimonies, the NTSB will publish a preliminary report on its website within five to 10 business days. During Tuesday’s briefing, Salisbury said he had received word that a wallet had been discovered in the crash area.
They are still searching for the body of his son, 30-year-old Joseph Johnson, who was piloting the plane.
The Cessna took off from the local Berkeley County airport and was traveling to Myrtle Beach when the collision occurred, Salisbury said.
Kelley Steele, who lived near the two, said the couple and the grandson kept to themselves and did not socialize with neighbors.
The jet’s pilot, Maj. But that may not happen for several days. Lt. Jenny Hyden, a spokeswoman for Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, South Carolina, said the pilot was taken to the base for observation.
The jet crashed into woods around the privately owned Lewisfield Plantation, an estate dating to 1750. Johnson safely ejected from the plane and was transported to the Joint Clinic Base in Charleston.
Jost said Johnson has flown his entire career – at least 1,500 hours – and is highly experienced reported by Air Force protocol.
“We heard the plane crash”, said Leo Ramsey, who has worked at the plantation for about 30 years.
Ramsey and two other workers found burning metal, splintered trees and a flaming crater where the jet went down, he said.
Authorities said it appears both planes were in radio communication with air traffic control towers at the time of the collision.
Maj. Morshe Araujo, a spokeswoman at Air Force headquarters at the Pentagon, says the F-16 originated from Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina.
The collision happened between 2,000 and 3,000 feet altitude, Col. Stephen Jost, the commander of the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw, said at a news conference Tuesday. “We as his parents don’t know that much”.
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