- A US Air Force F-16C Viper crashed during landing at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico Monday, the Air Force said in a statement.
- The pilot was able to safely eject and is being treated for minor injuries.
- The crash is the fifth Air Force fighter jet since mid-May. Two of the previous crashes saw the losses of Air Force pilots.
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A US Air Force F-16C Viper fighter jet crashed while landing at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico Monday, marking the service’s fifth fighter jet crash since May.
The base reports that the pilot successfully ejected when the aircraft crashed at 6 p.m. local time. The pilot of the single-seater aircraft assigned to the 49th Wing is being treated for minor injuries.
An investigation is currently underway to determine the cause of the incident.
The past two months have been rough for the Air Force, which has witnessed the loss of two pilots and five aircraft.
On May 15, a fifth-generation F-22 Raptor crashed at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. A few days later, a F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, another fifth-generation aircraft crashed at the same base. Both crashes, which occurred during training flights, were non-fatal, as the pilots were able to eject.
In mid-June, US Air Force pilot 1st Lt. Kenneth "Kage" Allen was killed when his F-15C Eagle from RAF Lakenheath crashed into the sea off the coast of the UK during a training exercise.
Then, on the last day of the month, another US Air Force pilot, 1st Lt. David Schmitz, was killed when his F-16CM Fighting Falcon crashed at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina during a routine training mission.
In addition to the five fighter jet crashes, the Air Force has also seen an F-35A's landing gear unexpectedly collapse at Hill Air Force Base in Utah and a C-130H Hercules cargo aircraft slide off the runway at Camp Taji in Iraq.
