An F-16 fighter jet based out of Texas crashed in a rural part of Michigan on Thursday during a routine training exercise, with the pilot successfully ejecting before being transported to a nearby hospital, according to a military spokesperson. The aircraft was participating in exercises at a National Guard installation in Alpena, roughly 190 miles (305 km) north of Detroit, when it went down.
Sgt. Derek Gutierrez, a public affairs specialist with the 149th Fighter Wing, confirmed the pilot was receiving medical care but withheld the pilot’s identity and injury details in accordance with military protocol. The crash produced a dark plume of smoke visible from a distance and led nearby residents to report hearing explosions.
Gutierrez said the jet was one of several F-16s deployed from Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas for the Michigan training exercises.
Local resident Wendy Sobeck, who lives in the area with her husband, said their initial assumption was that a car crash had occurred near their property. She described seeing thick black smoke billowing into the sky, prompting her husband to drive out and investigate — he found aircraft wreckage scattered across a field, with explosions continuing to occur, she told the Associated Press.
Her husband, 65-year-old Fred Sobeck, said he witnessed flames after approaching the crash site, recalling police warning him to leave the area due to ongoing explosions. He described seeing a large fireball in a field situated near a house and a camper, though he confirmed neither structure was struck.
The US military has operated F-16s since 1979. According to Air Force Safety Center records, the aircraft has been involved in at least 14 Class A mishaps since 2000 — a classification typically applied to incidents causing over $2 million in damage, the destruction of an aircraft, or the death of a service member.
This isn’t the first recent F-16 incident: another F-16C Fighting Falcon crashed in the California desert this past December while flying as part of the US Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration team. In that case as well, the pilot ejected without injury.
