UNITED STATES NEWS

The Latest: Man and his adult son killed in plane collision

Jul 8, 2015, 11:12 AM

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Here is a look at the latest news about an F-16 fighter jet that the Federal Aviation Administration says collided with a small plane over South Carolina:

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1:45 p.m.

Investigators say they have not yet determined what caused an F-16 and a small Cessna to collide over South Carolina, killing a man and his son.

NTSB investigator Dennis Diaz told reporters Wednesday that his first goal is to document the two crash sites, which are about 10 miles apart. He also says the F-16 pilot, who survived, will be interviewed. However, that may not happen for several days.

Diaz says investigators will look at flight data recorders and interview witnesses, though that is expected to take months.

Diaz would not comment on the direction, speed or altitude at which either aircraft was traveling.

Coroner Bill Salisbury says Michael Johnson’s body was found in the Cooper River. The search for his son Joseph Johnson’s body is being conducted in the same area.

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1:30 p.m.

A relative says her brother and nephew were killed when an F-16 fighter jet smashed into their small plane, just days after another sibling was slain.

Connie Stallworth says her brother Jim Johnson died just days earlier. Authorities say he and his wife, Beverly, were slain by their grandson, who has been charged with second-degree murder.

Berkeley County Coroner Bill Salisbury says 68-year-old Michael Johnson was a passenger in the Cessna destroyed in the collision with the F-16. Stallworth says he was her brother. Authorities are still looking for the body of Michael Johnson’s 30-year-old son Joseph.

Stallworth says she is “dumbfounded that it happened twice in a few days.”

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12:15 p.m.

A coroner says a man and his adult son were on board a small plane that collided with an F-16 fighter jet over South Carolina.

Berkeley County Coroner Bill Salisbury said Wednesday that authorities have recovered the body of 68-year-old Michael Johnson, the passenger.

They are still searching for the body of his son, 30-year-old Joseph Johnson, who was piloting the plane.

Federal investigators and local authorities have been combing through a wide swath of rural, sparsely populated land as they try to determine what caused the collision.

The small Cessna was completely destroyed.

Officials from Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter said in a news release that the jet’s pilot ejected from his aircraft safely.

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The Latest: Man and his adult son killed in plane collision