ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Evidence found at the remote, rugged Alaska site where an F-22 Raptor crashed indicates the pilot died, an Air Force official said Friday evening.
Part of the jet's ejection seat was found at the site, which means Capt. Jeffrey Haney of Clarklake, Mich., could not have survived the Tuesday night crash, Col. Jack McMullen said. Also found were pieces of the flight suit Haney had been wearing.
No body has been recovered.
Haney's single-seat fighter jet crashed during a training run about 100 miles north of Anchorage. He was assigned to the 525th Fighter Squadron at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
Searchers found the crash site Wednesday but had not previously been able to extensively inspect the hard-to-reach wreckage.
Haney was married with two children. Officials said he joined the Air Force in 2003 and has been at the Anchorage base for 4 1/2 years.
The F-22 took off Tuesday from the joint Air Force and Army base for a training run.
The jet and a second F-22 practiced "intercepts" and were nearing completion of the exercise when one aircraft disappeared from ground radar tracking and from communications with the other F-22 at 7:40 p.m. Tuesday.
An air search had been ongoing, with searchers looking for any sign of a parachute or a fire the pilot might have started had he been able to eject from the plane.
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