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Search on for military jet missing over Alaska

Search and rescue teams are looking for a U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor and its pilot that went missing during a flight over Alaska overnight, military officials told NBC News.
/ Source: NBC News and news services

Search and rescue teams are looking for a U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor and its pilot that went missing during a flight over Alaska late Tuesday, military officials told NBC News.

The officials said the advanced stealth fighter jet was about 90 miles northeast of Elmendorf Air Force Base when it "dropped off the radar."

There was no mayday or any other communication from the pilot that would have indicated the plane was in trouble, the officials told NBC News. There have been no distress calls from the pilot since the plane went missing.

U.S. military helicopters and at least one C-130 have so far failed to turn up any sign of the missing fighter jet, according to NBC News.

Base spokeswoman Corinna Jones told The Associated Press Tuesday night that the pilot was the only person in the craft, which was on a training mission. Air traffic control lost contact with the jet at 7:40 p.m. Alaska time, she added.

Jones declined to identify the pilot, but noted the aircraft is assigned to Elmendorf's 3rd Wing.

Weather conditions in nearby Anchorage at the time the jet lost contact were fair, The Weather Channel reported.

Earlier this year, a C-17 cargo plane also assigned to Elmendorf's 3rd Wing crashed while on a training demonstration in advance of a popular air show.

Four airmen died in the July crash when their plane went down about a minute after takeoff.

The next month, former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and four others died in a plane crash in the southwestern part of the state.