Human remains found at the site of an A-10 Thunderbolt crash have been positively identified as those of Capt. Craig Button, the pilot who flew 800 miles off course before going down, the Air Force said.
Positive identification was made through DNA testing by scientists at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C., officials at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona said Sunday.Button's parents in Massapequa, N.Y., were notified.
"We are pretty much up on it all. We don't want to say anything at this time. Please understand," Button's father, Richard Button, said today in a phone interview.
His son was on a routine training mission April 2 when his A-10 veered from other planes in his formation.
Wreckage of the plane and fragments of body parts were found Friday in the rugged mountains south of I-70, ending a three-week search.
National Guard helicopters will continue training missions over the crash site looking for the four 500-pound bombs that were on Button's plane. Officials believe the bombs are covered by snow.
An Air Force board has been appointed to try to determine why Button's plane flew to Colorado.