TRONA, Calif. \u2014 A fighter jet with the Air Force\u2019s elite Thunderbirds demonstration squadron crashed in the Southern California desert on Wednesday, but the pilot managed to eject safely, the military said.<\/p>\n
The pilot was being treated for non life-threatening injuries at a hospital, according to the San Bernardino County Fire Department.<\/p>\n
The F-16C Fighting Falcon crashed around 10:45 a.m. during a training mission \u201cover controlled airspace in California,\u201d according to a statement from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.<\/p>\n
The fire department said it had responded to an \u201caircraft emergency\u201d near Trona, an unincorporated community in the Mojave Desert about 180 miles north of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
In 2022, a Navy F\/A-18E Super Hornet crashed near Trona,\u00a0killing the pilot.<\/p>\n
Wednesday\u2019s crash is under investigation and further information will be released from the 57th Wing Public Affairs Office, the Air Force statement said.<\/p>\n
Like the Navy\u2019s Blue Angels, the Air Force Thunderbirds perform their famous tight formations at air shows, and train to fly within inches of each other. The brief statement from the Air Force did not give details on the circumstances of the crash.<\/p>\n
The Blue Angels and Thunderbirds have had dozens of crashes in their long histories.<\/p>\n
Formed in 1953, the Thunderbirds practice seasonally out of Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas. Aircraft based there include F-16 Falcon and F-22 Raptor fighter jets as well as A-10 Warthog ground-attack jets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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