F-16 fighter jet crashes in residential area in northern Michigan

A U.S. F-16 fighter jet pilot safely ejected before the aircraft crashed in northern Michigan on Thursday afternoon, officials said. The incident occurred in Grand Traverse County when the jet “experienced an incident” during a routine training mission, a spokesperson for the Texas Military Department said. Michael Kroll, spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, confirmed the jet was an F-16 from the Texas Air National Guard. The pilot is stable and was transferred to a local hospital, Michigan State Police said. The training mission originated out of the Air National Guard’s Combat Readiness Training Center in Alpena, Michigan, the military department said. There have been no reports of civilian injuries in the incident, which occurred in a residential area, Blair Township Supervisor Nicole Blonshine said in a phone interview Thursday afternoon. Blonshine said she did not witness the crash but heard it from her office. A witness, Nicole Conrad, said her kids noticed the military jet first. “I hear a big boom, and then I see a colorful parachute and this guy floating down from the sky,” she told NBC News. Ed Wilson, another witness, said he saw the plane going down, followed by an explosion and black smoke. “The jet just went straight in with a nose up and disappeared,” he said. Social media video verified by NBC News appears to show a column of black smoke rising near a home in the area of the reported crash. A hazardous chemical spill related to the crash led to an evacuation of all business and residential properties within a 1-mile radius, state police said. The order was lifted as of 9:44 p.m. Air traffic control audio obtained by NBC News describes the declaration of a possible mayday after the plane “may have taken a bird.” It goes on to describe “a lot of black smoke” after it reported “it appears that they may have lost an engine and ejected.” The Texas Military Department spokesperson said the incident is under investigation. An F-16 Fighting Falcon is a “compact, multi-role fighter aircraft” that is “highly maneuverable and has proven itself in air-to-air combat and air-to-surface attack,” according to the Air Force.