An F-16 fighter jet crashed Wednesday in a field just west of Luke Air Force Base in Glendale. The two pilots on board safely ejected and are expected to be fine, authorities said.
The aircraft went down in a field adjacent to the base, and no damage to structures or private property was reported, base officials said.
At the time of the incident, the pilots were conducting a routine training mission, they said.
“The first responders were outstanding,” said Brig. Gen. Michael Rothstein, 56th Fighter Wing commander. “An incident like this highlights the close cooperation between our Fire and Emergency Services and their counterparts in the surrounding community.”
The Air Force is investigating the cause of the accident.
The pilots walked to the first responders, but were taken to the hospital as a precaution, said Collin Williams, a spokesman for Rural Metro. He said that the pilots were called “delayed patients” because health problems can arise long after the crash.
Ron Sites, head of the Fighter Country Partnership, a booster organization for the base that also provides support to families of fallen airmen, said he was relieved to know the pilots are fine.
“It’s a huge relief ... that our support is not needed,” Sites said.
Luke Air Force Base is the only active-duty F-16 training base. The base, which began training pilots in 1941, is in Glendale near Litchfield Road and Glendale Avenue.
The F-16 Fighting Falcon is an aging jet. Luke is expected to be a training base for the F-35 Lightning II.
Harry Bailey, an Air Force retiree from Glendale, said he was at a retirement party for Luke Chief Master Sgt. Bill Peck at the base's Falcon Dunes Golf Course clubhouse when the jet went down about a mile away. He described the location as a farm field difficult to get to north of the base.
Bailey said a person shouted that they saw an aircraft go down and two parachutes shoot up in the air.
“We all went out onto the patio and looked and saw a big pile of dust,” he said. “Naturally all of the base officials took off ... the general and his staff went to the site.”
Ana Torres was getting ready to go for an afternoon run when she heard the plane fly over head and made a distinct “thud” sound. She said she saw pieces flying off the plane and two pilots eject.
“They got up and seemed really calm for falling out of a plane,” she said.
There have been at least 15 F-16 accidents at Luke Air Force Base. In the last accident on March 14, 2008, a student pilot lost consciousness and was killed when his $22 million aircraft went down in western Arizona about three miles south of Alamo Lake.
Crashes at Luke caused by mechanical malfunctions in the 1990s led to a mass grounding of F-16s and inspections of aircraft nationwide.
Matthew Benson, spokesman for Gov. Jan Brewer, said that the governor will speak Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at the base. He could not confirm the details of any announcement, although it is believed to involve the designation of Luke as a training site for the new F-35.
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