A US military F-16 fighter jet crashed in northern Michigan during a training exercise Thursday afternoon. The pilot ejected before the aircraft went down, and 30 people were treated for toxic chemical exposure, CNN reported, citing officials.
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The Texas Military Department said the F-16 belonged to the Texas Air National Guard's 149th Fighter Wing and was doing a routine training mission when it crashed in Grand Traverse County.
"The pilot successfully ejected from the aircraft," the department said.
Air Traffic Control released audio of the pilot's wingman reporting the near-fatal incident.
"We have a possible mayday by wingman. I believe (they) may have taken a bird," a military pilot with the callsign "Buck 11" alerted air traffic controllers, according to audio captured by LiveATC.net.
The controller tried to guide the pilots to a nearby airport, but Buck 11 replied that his wingman was about to eject.
"Alert emergency services! He's gonna have to get out, and it's gonna be in the town that I'm overhead now," Buck 11 says.
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Video footage obtained by CNN shows the aircraft engulfed in flames with a large smoke plume after the crash.
"It appears that they may have lost an engine and ejected. We do see a lot of black smoke, which we believe is the ejected F-16," an air traffic controller relayed to other pilots.
The pilot who ejected safely parachuted to the ground. He is being treated at a local hospital, Blair Township Supervisor Nicole Blonshine told the New York Post.
Blonshine added that she was startled by the crash, which she assumed was someone's house exploding.
"It sounded like a huge explosion. I ran out, and I saw a big smoke plume. My first thought was somebody's house blew up," she told The Post.
The cause of the crash has not been determined.
"We are currently investigating the mishap," a spokesperson for the 149th Fighter Wing told The Post.
Grand Traverse County authorities issued an evacuation order for all residents within one mile of the crash site.
