KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Military personnel are investigating the southeast Kansas site where an Oklahoma Air National Guard fighter jet crashed after a midair collision with another jet from the same unit during a training exercise.
The F-16 crashed Monday in a pasture about three miles northeast of Moline, an Elk County farming and ranching community. The pilot ejected and was taken to a clinic at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, where he was treated and released for slight injuries, the Oklahoma National Guard said in a news release Tuesday.
The second pilot wasn't injured and landed the other F-16 safely at a Tulsa base, where crews were assessing damage. The release said both pilots have been reunited with their families but declined to release their names.
"The main thing is no one was hurt on the ground and our pilots weren't seriously injured or killed," said Col. Max Moss, an Oklahoma National Guard spokesman, in the news release. "The Air Force will conduct a thorough investigation of the incident and we have the upmost faith in the investigatory process."
The release said additional information would be released when the investigation was completed. The pilots were part of the 138th Fighter Wing, an F-16 unit that routinely trains in designated airspace over sparsely populated areas.
Moline Clerk Lisa Townsley said Tuesday that helicopters were flying over the area and that military personnel had been swarming the community. After the crash, she helped dispatch rescue workers and track down volunteer firefighters to send to the scene.
She said that she could see the smoke from the town's main street and that at least one piece of debris fell into the yard of a resident on the outskirts of the community of about 480 residents.
"I'm very thankful it did not crash in town," Townsley said.
