Pilot dies in US military jet crash

A day after a US fighter jet crashed during a snowstorm in western Nevada in a training exercise, the Navy announced the pilot was killed in the incident.

A snowstorm and mountainous, remote terrain made the rescue crew to struggle for several hours to get to the Saturday’s crash site on a Navy range training complex east of Naval Air Station Fallon.

Initially after the crash of the F/A-18C fighter jet, no word was released about the pilot. But later on Sunday, US Pacific Fleet said officials determined the pilot’s status, according to Naval Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Reagan Lauritzen.

The pilot’s name is still being withheld.

The aircraft was reported a ‘total loss’ but no other injuries were reported. The jet was not carrying any weapons or munitions on the training mission.

The Navy said the cause of the crash will be investigated.

The aircraft had been in use since the late 1980s. The jet is built by Boeing Co, while General Electric supplies the engines, according to Reuters.