A fighter pilot on a training mission ditched his jet in a wooded area Wednesday so that the plane would avoid crashing into a suburban Washington neighborhood, the military says. The F-16C, which military officials said was at least 30 years old and worth $20 million, went down about 200 yards behind a small subdivision of two-story brick homes in the community of Clinton, Md., about 3 miles southwest of Joint Base Andrews, the AP reports. The pilot was treated for minor injuries and released from the hospital, said Lt. Col. Michael Corker, the pilot’s commanding officer. No one else was injured. About 20 homes in the area of the crash were evacuated as a precaution, local fire officials said.
The pilot, whose name was not released, is with the District of Columbia Air National Guard and was flying the fighter jet from Maryland to a shooting range in Pennsylvania for a training exercise when the crash happened.
Glad no real property damage ensued or
injuries. Them jets are old.
My favorite is still the time an old F-8 Crusader took off from NAS Miramar just north of San Diego with the wings still up in the folded position in the early 70’s. How he managed to get off the ground is till beyond me and no one noticed it. He managed to fly it far enough out over the Pacific before he ditched it. Someone and certainly more than one person really screwed up on that one.
geoff – with enough power you can make a rock fly, but it’s still gonna land like a rock.
It did, right into the Pacific.
Missed me by THAT much……
For sale: Used F-16. Needs work.
Might have seen that plane. He was doing some pretty radical sh1t. Too much for a vehicle that would get Antique License plates in VA. 😀
Actually, Clinton MD could use some “urban renewal” …
or am I thinking of that other MD cesspit?
izlamo delenda est …
A precaution for the air force, not the inhabitants of the homes, most likely.
How many potatoes dose one have to peel to cover a 20 million dollar plane bill?
ohh great, another airplane that doesn’t fly in the air force.
are we down to 6 in 10 ready to go yet?
What’s it gonna take to put you into a brand new F-16 today? If you buy today I’ll throw in floor mats.
Let’s see…..25 dollars a week divided into $20 million.
He will be 10056 years old when he makes the final payment
(I did not really do the math)
Makes me feel old. I remember when I was in Air Force Systems Command and the F15 and F16 were under development.
Also, the Joint Base Andrews sounds funny as it was Andrews AFB when I was at AFSC HQ.
When I first heard a plane went down I thought of Harrison Ford.
But then they said military
If the pilot is below 10,000 feet, and aircraft flames out. The pilot has no choice he has to eject. So we will have to wait for the accident report to find out if that’s the case.