Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Governor orders flags lowered for Thunderbirds pilot

Maj. Stephen Del Bagno

Master Sgt. Christopher Boitz/U.S. Air Force / AP

In this March 14, 2018, photo released by the U.S. Air Force, Maj. Stephen Del Bagno, Thunderbird 4/slot pilot, left, and Staff Sgt. Michael Meister, Thunderbird 4 dedicated crew chief, await the signal to start their F-16 Fighting Falcon during a practice show at Nellis Air Force Base. Del Bagno was killed when his aircraft crashed on the Nevada Test and Training Range while training on April 4, 2018.

Gov. Brian Sandoval 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.

Sandoval's executive order calls the gesture today a mark of respect and remembrance for Maj. Stephen Del Bagno.

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.