LAS VEGAS (AP) - The governor of Nevada ordered flags to be flown at half-staff to honor a U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds pilot who died this week in a training flight crash.
Gov. Brian Sandoval’s executive order calls the Friday gesture a mark of respect and remembrance for Maj. Stephen Del Bagno (del BAG’-noh).
Del Bagno was 34 and lived in Valencia, California.
He died Wednesday when his F-16 Fighting Falcon known as Thunderbird 4 crashed in the Nevada Test and Training Range north of Nellis Air Force Base.
Del Bagno was in his first season with the elite Thunderbirds flight demonstration team.
He previously served as an F-35A stealth jet evaluation pilot with the 58th Fighter Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
The Air Force says the crash is being investigated.
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