NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- A military pilot safely ejected
from an F-16 fighter jet shortly before it crashed on a southern
Nevada training range, Nellis Air Force Base officials said Tuesday.
It was the second F-16 training crash in a day.
The cause of the Monday evening crash on the vast Nevada Test
and Training Range north of Las Vegas was under investigation.
The pilot, an instructor with the 16th Weapons Squadron from
the U.S. Air Force Weapons School at Nellis, was checked at a
medical facility after the crash, base spokesman Justin McVay
said Tuesday.
Earlier Monday, another F-16 went down off the Florida Keys during
a training mission. That pilot, a member of the Air Force Reserve,
also ejected safely and was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard, said
Lt. Col. Tom Davis, chief of public affairs at Homestead Air Reserve
Base.
The Florida crash was classified as a plane malfunction, but
the exact cause was still being investigated, Davis said.
Nellis, about 10 miles north of Las Vegas, holds regular Red
Flag air combat training exercises. The base also is home to the
Air Force Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team.
The F-16C Falcon aircraft cost $18.8 million in 1998, according
to Air Force figures.
