CLINTON, Md. (AP) - The Latest on an F-16 crash in the Washington suburbs (all times local):
4:15 p.m.
Military officials say a pilot whose F-16 crashed near Washington has been released from the hospital after being treated for minor injuries.
The crash occurred around 9:15 a.m. Wednesday in a residential neighborhood of Clinton, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the Joint Base Andrews. Officials say the pilot intentionally guided the plane toward a wooded area before ejecting. He was roughly half a mile above the ground when he ejected.
Lt. Col. Michael Corker, the pilot’s commanding officer, said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon that no one else was injured. The pilot’s name was not released.
The pilot is with the District of Columbia Air National Guard and was flying one of four fighter jets from Maryland to a shooting range in Pennsylvania for a training exercise. The plane was armed with “training rounds,” which are real bullets that lack the armor-piercing and explosive capabilities of rounds used in combat.
Witnesses heard loud bangs after the plane hit the ground.
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3:30 p.m.
A homeowner who lives near a fighter jet crash site in a Washington suburb says the remains of the plane are in his backyard.
Reginald Stewart wasn’t home when the crash happened Wednesday, but neighbors called to tell him about it and that debris had hit his house.
He told The Associated Press that the siding on his home as well as his air conditioning unit was damaged and that the sprinkler system in one room had gone off.
Stewart says planes fly over the neighborhood all the time, but he never thought one would crash in this backyard.
The pilot suffered minor injuries after ejecting. No one on the ground was hurt.
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1 p.m.
Fire officials say it’s “very fortunate” that no one was killed when a fighter jet crashed in a wooded area near a neighborhood southeast of Washington.
Prince George’s County Fire and EMS spokesman Mark Brady said at a news conference Wednesday that the plane went down in woods between two residential cul-de-sacs, about 200 yards from the nearest home.
Air Force officials say the D.C. Air National Guard F-16C was flying with other aircraft when it crashed southwest of Joint Base Andrews. The pilot ejected safely.
Brady says no one on the ground was injured. He says the pilot was treated for minor injuries.
Acting fire chief Ben Barksdale says pieces of the plane were on fire when crews arrived and firefighters used water and foam to extinguish them.
Brady says debris was spread around a radius of roughly 40 yards, but debris was also found in other areas, a possible sign that it came off before impact.
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11:40 a.m.
Residents of a suburban Washington neighborhood say their house shook when a fighter jet crashed nearby.
Air Force officials said in a statement Wednesday that the D.C. Air National Guard F-16C was flying with other aircraft when it crashed southwest of Joint Base Andrews. Prince George’s County fire department spokesman Mark Brady tweets that the pilot, who ejected from the plane, is in good condition.
The plane went down in woods behind a small subdivision of two-story brick homes in Clinton. Brady says the plane crashed about 200 yards from homes, but no injuries or damage was reported on the ground.
Tyrone Wolridge and his wife, Tina, say it felt like an earthquake and they saw a plume of smoke.
Crystal Hollingsworth says she heard a “huge crash” followed by the sound of “live rounds” that seemed like they lasted for “a minute or two.”
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11:10 a.m.
The military says a fighter jet pilot on a training mission ejected safely before the aircraft crashed a few miles from the U.S. capital.
Air Force officials said in a statement Wednesday that the D.C. Air National Guard F-16C was flying with other aircraft when it crashed in a wooded area in Clinton, a Washington suburb that’s about 6 miles (nearly 10 kilometers) southwest of Joint Base Andrews.
Officials say the pilot, the only person on board, sustained injuries that aren’t thought to be life-threatening.
Prince George’s County fire department spokesman Mark Brady tells WRC-TV that a pilot parachuted out of the aircraft and was picked up by a military helicopter. Brady says homes in the area are being evacuated. There are no other reports of injuries.
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