Ariana G. Savino

Lost with the crew of Zeus 95 when their KC-135 Stratotanker went down over friendly airspace in western Iraq on 12 March 2026, during Operation EPIC FURY. A second tanker was involved in the incident and landed safely. Central Command states the loss was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.

Ariana Savino took a degree in business administration and aviation management at Central Washington University and earned her commission there through the Reserve Officer Training Corps in 2017. She trained as a combat systems officer, graduating in 2020, and flew the E-8C Joint STARS from Robins Air Force Base in Georgia - first as a crew officer, then in standardization and evaluation, then as assistant flight commander and flight commander of the 330th Combat Training Squadron. She went to Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi in 2023 for undergraduate pilot training and earned her wings in May 2025, joining the 99th Air Refueling Squadron as a KC-135 pilot. She was made chief of current operations that September. She was commissioned second lieutenant on 4 August 2017, first lieutenant two years later to the day, and captain on 4 August 2021. She cared about Latin women in aviation and worked to bring them on. A flight instructor who had taught her said afterwards: I don't remember all my students, but I definitely remember her.

Her parents, her siblings, and her pets.