Officials: Navy jets likely collided over Gulf

Coast Guard vessels search the Gulf of Mexico Thursday.

PENSACOLA, Florida (CNN) -- It appeared likely that the two twin-engine Navy T-39 Saberliner jets lost over the Gulf of Mexico with seven people on board Wednesday collided with each other, military officials said Thursday.

The Coast Guard called off its search for survivors Thursday.

Searchers "were unable to locate any survivors, and only debris from the wreckage was located," said Lt Cmdr. Brendan McPherson, a Coast Guard spokesman. He said debris was being recovered by the Navy.

The victims included Maj. Ambarak S. Al-Ghamdi, a flight instructor from the Royal Saudi Air Force who was involved in the training session.

Al-Ghamdi was assigned to the Training Wing of the Pensacola Naval Air Station, where the flights originated.

Crash victims Navy Lt. Cmdr. William R. Muscha, 32, of Fargo, N.D. Lt. Christopher T. Starkweather, 26, of Fort Atkinson, Wis. Ensign James T. Logan, 26, of Woodland Hills, Calif. Marine Corps 2nd Lt. John N. Wilt Raytheon Aerospace Homer G. Hutchinson III of Pensacola, Fla. Marshall F. Herr of Pace, Fla. Saudi Arabia Maj. Ambarak S. Al-Ghamdi of the Royal Saudi Air Force EXTRA INFORMATION Facts: T-39 specifications

"Having a member of the Saudi Air Force as part of U.S. naval training is not an unusual situation," said Navy spokeswoman Kate Mueller.

Homer G. Hutchinson III of Pensacola and Marshall F. Herr of Pace, Florida -- both employees of Raytheon Aerospace, which provides contractor assistance for the Navy -- were flying the Saberliners while training was taking place in the rear.

It is not uncommon for civilian contractors to pilot military planes, particularly if flying the aircraft is not fundamental to the training mission, as was the situation in this case.

The other victims were three Navy officers and one Marine Corps officer (see box).

The search teams that examined the area where the jets went down reported finding wreckage only in "very small pieces," officials told CNN.

The small size of the debris field indicated to military officials that the aircraft probably hit each other about 40 miles from the naval station, said an official in touch with Navy and Coast Guard recovery vessels.

A third Navy plane in the training mission unsuccessfully searched for signs of life immediately after the crash.

The Navy has not commented on what details the crew of the third plane might have provided. But a Navy official acknowledged the assumption was that the downed planes somehow collided.

Two Coast Guard helicopters, a jet aircraft and Navy aircraft searched about 50 square miles around the crash site. Two 87-foot Coast Guard cutters and a Navy salvage vessel were also on the scene.

The search effort was aided by good weather in the northern Gulf of Mexico, although waves and winds overnight Wednesday spread the debris and expanded the search area, said Coast Guard spokesman Mark Mackowiak.

-- CNN Correspondent Barbara Starr and CNN Producer Mike Mount contributed to this story.