F-16 Crashes at Nevada Training Range

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An F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 64th Aggressor Squadron takes off for a training flight Aug. 13, 2013, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Joshua Kleinholz)
FILE -- An F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 64th Aggressor Squadron takes off for a training flight Aug. 13, 2013, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Joshua Kleinholz)

An Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, crashed on Wednesday. The condition of the pilot is unknown at this time, officials said.

The F-16 was participating in routine training at the Nevada Test and Training Range when it crashed at approximately 10:30 a.m. local time, Nellis said in a release.

Officials did not say whether the pilot was able to eject from the single-engine, multirole fighter. The accident is under investigation, the base said.

Nellis has a squadron of F-16C variants assigned to the 64th Aggressor Squadron, which provides combat and adversary air training. The Air Force Thunderbirds, the Air Force’s premiere demonstration team, is also part of the 57th Wing at Nellis.

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The incident is the latest of several aviation mishaps in the last 48 hours.

On Tuesday, a Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter crashed during a training mission in southern California, with all four on board presumed dead.

Also Tuesday, a Marine Harrier jet crashed during takeoff from an airport in Djibouti. The pilot was able to eject and was being treated for injuries, officials told Military.com. It's not clear what prompted the pilot's ejection.

Separately, another CH-53 "sustained minor structural damage" during a landing in Djibouti near of Arta Beach, a military spokesman told CNN on Wednesday.

Range Accidents

In September, a pilot was killed in a crash at the Nevada Test and Training Range.

Lt. Col. Eric Schultz, 44, died from injuries sustained in an accident in which an aircraft crashed at the range, located about 100 miles northwest of Nellis Air Force Base.

The aircraft was assigned to Air Force Materiel Command and was flying a training mission at the time of the mishap, according to a release at the time.

The Air Force has never identified the type of aircraft involved in September's crash. Air Force Chief of Staff. Gen David Goldfein would say only that it was not an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

"I can definitely say it was not an F-35," Goldfein told Military.com on a trip to the annual conference of the National Guard Association of the United States in Louisville, Ky.

The deadly crash occurred a day before a pair of A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack aircraft crashed at the same training range. Both pilots safely ejected in that incident.

This story will be updated.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.

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