RUSHVILLE WOMAN'S SON KILLED IN JET CRASH; FOUR FIGHTER PILOTS PRESUMED DEAD

BYLINE: LISA KERNEK STAFF WRITER

The son of a Rushville woman was among four pilots killed in the collision Friday of two fighter jets off the coast of California. Lt. Joel Korkowski, 30, is presumed dead after his F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter collided with another jet about 80 miles southwest of Monterey,
Calif., during training exercises. He is survived by his mother, Sarah Korkowski of Rushville, and grandparents D.W. and Doris Haney of Springfield. His father, the late James Korkowski, was a pilot with the Springfield-based 183rd Fighter Wing of the Illinois Air National Guard during the 1970s. The family moved to Texas in 1977, where James Korkowski worked for NASA and aspired to become an astronaut, Sarah Korkowski said Tuesday. But the elder Korkowski's career also ended tragically, when he became ill with cancer and died at age 38. The public library in Rantoul, where James Korkowski grew up, houses a collection memorializing him.
Growing up in Texas, Joel Korkowski followed in his father's footsteps. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and graduated from Texas A&M University, according to his obituary. He was commissioned in the U.S. Navy in August 1996. In October 2001, he flew over Afghanistan in Operation Enduring Freedom from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.
"He served his country well and faithfully," Sarah Korkowski said. "He was doing what he loved to do." His wife, Kris, is expecting the couple's first child in December, she
said. The U.S. Coast Guard called off the search for the four missing aviators Saturday. The cause of Friday's crash remains under investigation.
A memorial service for Korkowski and the other missing pilots was to be held today at Lemoore Naval Air Station near Fresno, Calif., where they
were based.