{"id":480,"date":"2014-10-22T03:41:07","date_gmt":"2014-10-22T00:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/?p=480"},"modified":"2014-10-22T03:41:07","modified_gmt":"2014-10-22T00:41:07","slug":"pilots-safely-ejected-after-two-us-air-national-guard-f-16s-collided-over-kansas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/?p=480","title":{"rendered":"Pilots Safely Ejected After Two US Air National Guard F-16s Collided Over Kansas"},"content":{"rendered":"

The roar of at least one fighter jet overhead caught Elaine Julian’s attention.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"F-16<\/a>

F-16 Fighting Falcons from Kunsan Air Base and South Korean KF-16s taxi to the runway together during an exercise in South Korea on Aug. 21, 2014. (Photo by USAF)<\/p><\/div>\n

It was a beautiful, sunny autumn afternoon, and the 75-year-old woman was visiting the park in Moline with her twin 4-year-old great-grandsons. It was about 2:20 PM on October 20. They watched as the jet left puffs of vapor or smoke, one after another. From her perspective, the jet started zigzagging and seemed to be in trouble.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Oh my gosh, boys, I think it’s going to crash,” Julian blurted out.<\/p>\n

Flames shot out as the jet plummeted \u2014 they couldn’t see it as it went behind trees \u2014 and they heard a loud boom, apparently when it hit the ground, about 75 miles southeast of Wichita in Elk County.<\/p>\n

What happened, officials say, is this: Two Oklahoma Air National Guard fighter jets collided over rural Kansas during an exercise Monday afternoon, leading one of the jets to crash after the pilot ejected.<\/p>\n

Both pilots escaped serious injury.<\/p>\n

One jet crashed about three miles straight north of Moline, in an area of slightly hilly pasture land, said City Clerk Lisa Townsley.<\/p>\n

“You could look right down Main Street … and see the smoke,” Townsley said.<\/p>\n

Col. Max Moss of the Oklahoma National Guard gave this account: Two Oklahoma Air National Guard F-16 Fighting Falcons collided midair during a training exercise Monday afternoon southwest of the town of Howard, causing one of pilots to eject from the aircraft. The other jet managed to return to Tulsa and land safely.<\/p>\n

The pilot who ejected was being taken to McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita to be evaluated but appears to be OK. Moss said he couldn’t provide more information.<\/p>\n

Although some debris fell in Moline, a town of about 486 people, there were no reports of damage in the town, Townsley said.<\/p>\n

The jet was still on fire shortly before 4 p.m. Monday, Townsley said. By a little after after 4, the fire was apparently under control, she said.<\/p>\n

She said the Kansas Highway Patrol and Elk County Sheriff’s Office had personnel on scene. Crews from McConnell also provided emergency response.<\/p>\n

According to an Associated Press account, the jet that landed at Tulsa International Airport was met on the tarmac by several fire and rescue vehicles.<\/p>\n

The jets are assigned to the 138th Fighter Wing based at the airport.<\/p>\n

In Moline, after Julian and her great-grandsons heard the crash, they returned to her home not far from the park, and then she saw something strange.<\/p>\n

It looked like a big leaf floating down from the sky, about a half hour after the crash.<\/p>\n

When it landed in her yard, Julian saw that it was a jagged piece of what looked like charcoal-gray fiberglass. It was about 8 inches long, 4 inches wide and about the thickness of a piece of paper. It smelled like fuel, so she concluded it must have come from the jet.<\/p>\n

She notified authorities, and someone from the Air Force came by her house to collect it.
\nSource: \u00a0By Tim\u00a0Potter\u00a0 – October 21, 2014 (MILITARY.COM \/ businessinsider.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The roar of at least one fighter jet overhead caught Elaine Julian’s attention. It was a beautiful, sunny autumn afternoon, and the 75-year-old woman was visiting the park in Moline with her twin 4-year-old...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[323,322,324,320,156,321],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=480"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":482,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480\/revisions\/482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}