F-16 Crashes During Training Exercise in Michigan; Pilot Ejects

An F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the Texas Air National Guard’s 149th Fighter Wing crashed during a training mission in Michigan on Sept. 17.

The fighter’s sole pilot ejected safely. The Michigan State Police said in a social media post the pilot is in stable condition at a local hospital and there are no other known injuries related to the crash.

In a statement, the wing said the aircraft was conducting a “routine training mission” in the afternoon at Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center, a Michigan Air National Guard facility in the northern part of the state near Traverse City. The F-16 is based at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas.

The 149th is participating in an exercise called “Operation Northern Cactus” as part of training for deployment to an “austere environment,” according to information the wing released earlier this week.

The wing said the crash is under investigation.

The stricken F-16’s wingman told air traffic control that the crashed aircraft may have suffered a bird strike and said the pilot planned to bail out of the fighter before ultimately ejecting, according to audio recorded by the website LiveATC. The audio indicates the two planes were flying together on the mission as call sign BUCK 11 flight.

Imagery posted to social media showed a large plume of black smoke rising from the area. Buildings within a one-mile radius of the crash were evacuated due to a “hazardous chemical spill,” according to the State Police. F-16s carry hydrazine, a highly toxic chemical that fuels the plane’s emergency power unit, which powers the jet’s flight controls and other critical systems in the event of an engine failure.