A crash-response team from Hill Air Force Base is containing the wreckage area of the plane that went down Wednesday, killing Lt. Col. Dillon L. McFarland, 40.
The team arrived Thursday morning and has been cording off the area, collecting evidence and will make a preliminary assessment of what happened during the combat training mission McFarland was participating in over the Utah Test and Training Range, said Capt. Monica Bland, an Air Force spokeswoman.
Then an Air Force accident investigation board will determine the official cause of the crash of the F-16C fighter jet about 25 miles northeast of Wendover. A safety investigation board of Air Force attorneys and crash experts is also expected to analyze the crash and determine the best way to prevent the problem in the future, Bland said.
The investigation could take months, Bland said.
McFarland, originally from South Dakota, graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1984. He has been at Hill since 1998 and was assistant director of operations for the reservist 419th Fighter Wing. He was a commercial airline pilot full-time.
McFarland is survived by a wife and two children.