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2 Air National Guard pilots eject after midair collision

2 Air National Guard pilots eject after midair collision | iNFOnews.ca
Base commander Col. Nicholas Gentile speaks with reporters outside McEntire Joint National Guard Base in Eastover, SC., Wednesday June 8, 2016. Two F-16C South Carolina Air National Guard jets collided over eastern Georgia, Tuesday evening. Gentile says the planes were totally destroyed, but the pilots ejected and survived, and have returned to South Carolina. (AP Photo/Susanne M. Schafer)

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Two South Carolina Air National Guard F-16 fighter pilots ejected safely after a midair collision overnight in eastern Georgia, the Guard said.

The collision happened Tuesday night around 9:15 p.m. during routine night-flying operations over a military operating area in Jefferson County, Georgia, the Air National Guard said in a news release.

The jets were assigned to the South Carolina Air National Guard’s 169th Fighter Wing, which operates out of McEntire Joint National Guard Base in Eastover, South Carolina.

The two male pilots were brought to a hospital, said 1st Lt. Stephen Hudson, a spokesman for the Guard.

“They were taken to a local hospital for observation,” Hudson said. “Apparently there were no major injuries.”

There were no immediate reports of injuries on the ground.

The pilots were conducting a training mission over Georgia airspace in an area known as the Townsend Range, Hudson said. The region is used by the South Carolina Air National Guard for such training.

Hudson said it appeared the two aircraft crashed in separate locations, apparently wooded areas.

“We are dealing with two crash sites,” Hudson said, adding that officials from the South Carolina Air National Guard were travelling to the area Wednesday morning.

Local first responders were securing the area and providing emergency services, the Guard’s news release said. The release also said the Air Force would conduct a safety investigation.

The collision comes after both of the military’s precision flying teams suffered crashes last week.

A Blue Angels F/A-18 crashed last Thursday near Nashville, Tennessee, while taking off for a practice session. The pilot, Marine Capt. Jeff Kuss, was killed.

Also Thursday, a Thunderbirds F-16 crashed outside Colorado Springs, Colorado, but that pilot, Maj. Alex Turner, ejected safely. The Thunderbirds had just performed over the open-air graduation ceremony at the nearby Air Force Academy, where President Barack Obama spoke.

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