DATE: Thursday, April 24, 1997              TAG: 9704240430

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: EAGLE, COLO.                      LENGTH:   37 lines

WRECKAGE CONFIRMED AS MISSING PLANE THE PILOT IS STILL MISSING, AND THE SITE MAY SOON BE BURIED BY SNOW.

Two airplane pieces found on a snowy Rocky Mountain peak are from the Air Force warplane that vanished on a training mission over Arizona three weeks ago, the military confirmed Wednesday.

``We have positive identification that these are pieces of the A-10 (Thunderbolt) aircraft,'' Air Force Maj. Gen. Nels Running said.

There was no sign of Capt. Craig Button.

``I don't know if Capt. Button was with the aircraft or was not with the aircraft so I cannot talk about remains,'' Running said. ``The search continues.''

Earlier Wednesday, Tech. Sgt. Ishmael Antonio, trained to rescue downed pilots behind enemy lines, was lowered by cable from a helicopter to retrieve the two pieces from near Gold Dust Peak in the Holy Cross Wilderness Area, 15 miles southwest of Vail, Running said.

One piece is plastic-insulated tubing and wires, described as part of a device used to control flaps, and the other is metal with the markings of turbine parts made by General Electric.

Antonio tried to pick up the largest piece of wreckage, but it was bigger than him and he couldn't free it from the snow, Running said. He retrieved the two smaller pieces instead.

The suspected crash site was discovered Sunday.

The helicopter couldn't get to search headquarters Monday because of a near blizzard. It got to Eagle on Tuesday but was driven back by snow when it tried to make a pass over the site.

The pararescue team went back to the area Wednesday afternoon to try to recover more pieces before a spring storm dumps heavy snow. KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT PLANE ACCIDENT MILITARY

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