A Texas-based US military F-16 fighter jet crashed on Thursday during a training mission in Michigan in the US, however, the pilot was able to eject, the unit to which the aircraft belonged said. “A Texas Air National Guard F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 149th Fighter Wing…crashed during a routine training mission” near Traverse City, the unit said in a statement on its Facebook page.
Pilot successfully ejected from the aircraft
“The pilot successfully ejected from the aircraft. The incident is under investigation,” it added, without providing further details. Giving more details, Grand Traverse County Emergency Management in Michigan said on Facebook that an evacuation order is “in effect due to a plane crash.”
Gary Peters, one of the northern state’s two US senators, said on X that he was “aware of the plane crash near Traverse City” and was “closely monitoring the situation as we work to get more information on the incident.”
Pilot undergoing medical treatment at a local hospital
Giving other details, Sgt. Derek Gutierrez, a public affairs specialist with the 149th Fighter Wing, said the pilot was receiving medical treatment at a local hospital. Gutierrez declined to release details about the pilot’s identity or any injuries, citing military policy.
The incident happened when the plane was participating in training exercises at a National Guard base in Alpena, about 190 miles (305 kilometers) north of Detroit. Soon after the incident was happened, locals reported hearing a loud crash, and images posted to social media showed a dark plume of smoke in the air.
Here’s what locals said on jet crash incidentย
In this regards, Wendy Sobeck said she and her husband heard a “very loud crash” down the road, minutes from their rural home. “We thought there was a car accident outside our house. We saw big billowing black smoke. We couldn’t tell what it was, so my husband got into his pickup truck and saw what happened,” Sobeck said. “You could see the plane debris in the field. Explosions kept happening.”
The US military started flying the first F-16s in 1979 and there have been at least 14 “Class A mishaps” involving F-16s since 2000, according to the Air Force Safety Center. However, the Class A mishap designation is generally used when the damage totals more than $2 million, when an aircraft is destroyed or when a service member is killed.
Prior to this, an F-16C Fighting Falcon with the Air Force’s elite Thunderbirds demonstration squadron crashed in December in the Southern California desert, and the pilot in that crash was also able to eject safely.
With inputs from agencies
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