Danger! US Air Force F-16 crashes in California; pilot ejects safely.
A major flight safety incident has occurred at the U.S. Air Force’s most prestigious aerobatic team, the Thunderbirds. An F-16C Fighting Falcon crashed Wednesday morning during a training mission in the California desert. Fortunately, the pilot ejected safely and is currently in stable condition. This is a rare serious accident for this elite unit in recent years, and the military has launched an investigation. According to military news websites, the accident occurred at approximately 10:45 a.m. local time on March 3. At the time, six Thunderbirds aircraft were conducting routine training in airspace near Trona Airport, south of Death Valley, California. However, only five aircraft returned to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada after the training session, while the other crashed. The Thunderbirds later confirmed the incident in an official statement: “A Thunderbird pilot safely ejected from an F-16C fighter jet during a training mission in controlled airspace in California.” The San Bernardino County Fire Department stated that rescue personnel quickly arrived at the scene and confirmed that the pilot, although injured, was conscious and was immediately transported to the nearby Ridgecrest Hospital for treatment; his life is not in danger. Because the crash site was located in a sparsely populated desert, there were no casualties or damage to facilities on the ground. The Thunderbirds, founded in 1953, are one of the world’s top aerobatic teams, renowned for their tight diamond formation and highly difficult maneuvers. Although the pilots are among the best in the Air Force, the high intensity of aerobatic flight still carries extremely high risks. The team’s last fatal accident was in April 2018, when Major Del Bagno, pilot of aircraft number 4, tragically died in a crash during training in Nevada. The exact cause of this accident is still under investigation by the military.
