F-16 fighter jet crashes during training flight in California

An F-16 assigned to the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds crashed during a training mission in the Southern California desert on Wednesday after the pilot safely ejected, the Associated Press reported.

The crash happened near Trona, in San Bernardino County, according to local fire officials. Local emergency crews responded immediately to reports of an aircraft incident, transporting the pilot, who had ejected and was conscious and alert, to a hospital with injuries that were described as not life-threatening.

Military officials said the jet had departed from Nellis Air Force Base and was flying in controlled airspace at the time of the crash. No damage to structures on the ground was reported.

In mid-November, a Turkish C-130E Hercules — a four-engine turboprop tactical airlifter — went down in Georgia shortly after entering the country’s airspace on Tuesday, killing all 20 people on board.