Military

Officials are investigating the crash of a U.S. F-16 fighter jet that went down in the Pacific after taking off from a base in Japan. The pilot ejected and was rescued after six hours in the water.

The F-16 with the 35th Fighter Squadron at Misawa Air Base crashed Sunday about 250 miles off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island.

Officials at Misawa said Thursday that an investigation into the cause of the crash was under way. The aircraft was en route to Alaska.

The pilot, who has not been identified, ejected safely and was retrieved after about six hours by a combined Japanese and U.S. rescue mission. Base officials say he is in stable condition.

The annual Buoy Tender Olympics got off to an early start Wednesday morning on Juneau’s downtown waterfront with a chain pull, swimming relay in Gastineau Channel, the tug of war, and welding and crane-operating competitions.

The Olympics are part of the 2012 U.S. Coast Guard Buoy Tender Round-up. The week-long event includes specialized training for crewmen and women aboard the ships as well as the mid-week competitive games.

Wearing a Viking helmet with horns, Ensign William Stark of the Kodiak-based Spar was part of the ship’s tug-of-war team. He said the entire week is always a great experience.

“It’s competitive, but by the end of the day, it’s buoy tender camaraderie between all the different units. We’re all brothers. It’s a great thing,” he said.

The round-up is sponsored by the U.S. Coast Guard 17th District, headquartered in Juneau. This year vessels from Alaska, Washington, Oregon and British Columbia are participating.

Scott Bell is Lead Hand on the Bartlett, based in Victoria, B.C. Bell said the Juneau Buoy Tender Roundup is a good opportunity for Canadian Coast Guardsmen and women to spend time and train with their U.S. counterparts.

“Every year we have our own roundup out of Victoria and quite a few of the ships show up for that as well, from the U.S. side. It’s good to touch base with people we’ve met before and every new face is a bonus,” Bell said.

The ships docked at Station Juneau include the 225-foot buoy tenders SPAR and Sitka-based Maple. The three 175-foot buoy tenders are the Anthony Petit, from Ketchikan; the Fir, from Astoria, Oregon; and the Henry Blake, based in Everett, Washington. The Canadian Coast Guard medium-endurance ship Bartlett is 189 feet.

Alaska buoy tenders service 1,250 navigational aids along 42,000 miles of coastline. They also participate in law enforcement, search and rescue, and environmental protection.

The Coast Guard is launching a temporary base in Barrow beginning July 16 in a response to increased Arctic shipping. The Coast Guard calls it a Forward Operating Location and it will remain in place through October. It’s the largest presence the Coast Guard has ever had in the Arctic, although it has been conducting arctic outreach in Alaska since 2008. Petty Officer Kip Wadlow is a spokesperson for the Coast Guard.

“With the decrease in the Arctic ice, we’ve seen an increase in vessel traffic coming through the Bering Strait and operating off the north coast of Alaska and because of this trend and because of our primary mission protecting lives at sea, we want to make sure we’re fully capable of assisting mariners who may be in distress off the north coast of Alaska during the summer ice free months,” Wadlow said.

The Coast Guard is basing two Jayhawk helicopters in Barrow, a maintenance crew and a communications team, about 30 people in all. In addition, Wadlow says two Coast Guard buoy tenders and two cutters will be making trips up to the Arctic to patrol the waters of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.

The Coast Guard says the temporary base is not a response to Shell’s planned exploratory drilling in the Arctic Ocean this summer. But that operation is one of the reasons the North Slope Borough is welcoming the increased Coast Guard presence. Jacob Adams Senior is the Borough’s Chief Administrative Officer. He says the Borough has been waiting for the Coast Guard to show up for a long time.

“I mean just Shell alone has well over a dozen ships operating out there to support two drill rigs. So the Coast Guard’s presence does a lot to ease the minds of the people on the North Slope,” Adams said.

Adams wants the Coast Guard to establish a permanent base in Barrow, even if it’s a small one. The Coast Guard says that decision hasn’t been made yet. The Coast Guard has documented a steady increase in vessel traffic in the arctic over the last several years. More than 400 vessels went through the Bering Strait last year and about 200 made it to the Arctic Ocean.

This week kicks off the 2012 Coast Guard Buoy Round-up held by the 17th Coast Guard District in Juneau. The event is a week-long series of training exercises for the Coast Guard.

There are 5 ships docked in Juneau including the 225-foot SPAR, Fir, Maple and the 175-foot Henry Blake and Anthony Petit. They are joined by the Canadian coast guard vessel Bartlett.

The event is an opportunity for crews to receive training and practice in areas such as buoy maintenance, safety equipment maintenance, and first aid.

The main event is the Buoy Olympics on Wednesday from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., when crews will compete against each other.

According to the Coast Guard, crews in Alaska service 1,250 navigational aids along 42,000 miles of coastline.

Military officials say a team is continuing to remove debris on an Alaska glacier from an Air Force plane that crashed in 1952, killing all 52 people on board.

Officials say the military team has been sent to Colony Glacier to remove airplane parts, not items needed to identify people on board.

The debris of the C-124 Globemaster was discovered June 10 by Alaska Army National Guardsmen flying a helicopter. The aircrew conducted aerial surveillance of the site to ensure it was aircraft debris before returning to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

Later in June, members of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command team recovered materials like a life-support system from the wreckage and possible bones from the glacier. The evidence was being taken to the command’s lab in Hawaii for analysis.

U.S. Senator Mark Begich sent a petition with signatures of more than 1,650 Alaskans and other U.S. residents opposing the relocation of an F-16 squadron from Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks to Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Anchorage.

Begich launched an on-line petition drive in April.  Those that signed their names believe the Air Force proposal lacks appropriate analysis and transparency.

While the formal petition drive process has ended, Begich says signatures that come in before the end of the month will also be delivered to the Air Force.