Fighter jet crash kills military pilot
Fighter jet crash kills military pilot
FALLON, Nev. (AP) — A day after a fighter jet went down during a training exercise in western Nevada, the Navy said late Sunday that the military pilot had been killed in the crash.
It took rescue crews several hours to reach the site of Saturday’s crash on a Navy range training complex east of Naval Air Station Fallon because of a snow storm and mountainous, remote terrain. But there was no immediate word released about the pilot.
U.S. Pacific Fleet said officials determined the pilot’s status on Sunday, according to Naval Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Reagan Lauritzen.
The pilot’s name was being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
The F/A-18C, a U.S. Marine jet on loan to the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center, went down about 70 miles east of Naval Air Station Fallon, she said.
When crews arrived at the crash site they found that the aircraft was a total loss.
The Navy reported incorrectly on Saturday that the jet was one of its Hornets.
Disney ends Boy Scouts funding
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Walt Disney Company will cut funding to the Boy Scouts of America beginning in 2015 because of a policy that bans gay adult leaders in the organization.
The Boy Scouts organization is “disappointed” by the decision, which will affect the organization’s ability to serve children, Deron Smith, a Boy Scouts spokesman, said Sunday. Disney does not provide direct funding to the Boy Scouts, but it donates money to some troops in exchange for volunteer hours completed by Disney employees, he said.
“We believe every child deserves the opportunity to be a part of the Scouting experience and we are disappointed in this decision because it will impact our ability to serve kids,” he said.
David Jefferson, chief spokesman for The Walt Disney Company, did not respond to calls or emails.
Disney’s decision came to light after the president of a local Boy Scout council based in Orlando, Fla., where Disney World is based, sent a memo alerting local troops to the decision.
The memo was posted on the website of Scouts for Equality, an organization that is critical of the Boy Scouts’ policy to ban adult gay troop leaders.
The Boy Scouts lifted a ban on gay youth last year.