Investigators are converging on an area near Charleston, S.C., where an F-16 crashed Tuesday after colliding with a civilian Cessna airplane around 11:30 a.m. ET. No injuries or property damage were reported on the ground, according to local officials.
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The fighter jet crash-landed into woods around the privately owned Lewisfield Plantation, an estate dating to 1750.
“I looked up, and I saw an explosion”, Cannon, 61, said in a phone interview.
Berkeley County Rescue Squad Chief Bill Salisbury said the main goal now is to recover the remains of the two people believed to have been aboard the Cessna and bring them home to their families.
The Berkeley County Fire Department says two planes have crash-landed near Old Highway 52 at Lewisfield Plantation. Johnson’s F-16 “Fighting Falcon” was from the 55th Fighter Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter.
Wreckage… the pilot of the fighter jet managed to eject himself from the fiery crash. However, she did not offer any more information about the condition of the pilot.
No other details were immediately available.
Photo of a jet engine beside an RV camper in Moncks Corner, South Carolina.
F-16s have been flown by the Air Force since the 1970’s, although very few regiments still use them. Moreover, the small plane is more like a bird, weighing just about 1,500 pounds against an F-16 that weighs around 10 tons without fuel and weapons.
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The S.C. Air National Guard told The State newspaper the F-16 was not one of its planes. He was flying a solo practice mission to Charleston some 2,000 to 3,000 feet in the sky, talking to air traffic control, when the collision happened, Shaw Col. Stephen F. Jost said.
