An F-16 fighter jet from Texas crashed in rural Michigan during a routine training exercise on Thursday (September 17, 2026), and the pilot ejected safely, a military spokesman said.
The jet was one of several F-16 aircraft from Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, taking part in the Michigan training exercises, Sgt. The military began flying the first F-16s in 1979. The Class A mishap designation is generally used when the damage totals more than $2 million, when an aircraft is destroyed or when a service member is killed.
“Police told me to get out of there because of explosions,” he said. Gutierrez said. There have been at least 14 “Class A mishaps” involving F-16s since 2000, according to the Air Force Safety Center.
In December last year, an F-16C Fighting Falcon with the Air Force’s elite Thunderbirds demonstration squadron crashed in the Southern California desert, and the pilot in that crash was also able to eject safely.
Witnesses reported hearing a loud crash, while images posted on social media showed a dark plume of smoke in the air. The plane was participating in training exercises at a National Guard base in Alpena, about 190 miles (305 kilometres) north of Detroit. Mr. Gutierrez declined to release details about the pilot’s identity or any injuries, citing military policy. “We thought there was a car accident outside our house. We saw big billowing black smoke. We couldn’t tell what it was, so my husband got into his pickup truck and saw what happened,” Ms. “You could see the plane debris in the field. Explosions kept happening.
Sgt Derek Gutierrez, a public affairs specialist with the 149th Fighter Wing, said the pilot was receiving medical treatment at a local hospital. Wendy Sobeck said she and her husband heard a “very loud crash” down the road, minutes from their rural home. Sobeck said. Fred Sobeck (65) said he drove down the road and saw a “big fireball in the field” near a house and a camper, which were not hit.
