Fighter jet crashes in Arizona
By Jesse Byrnes - 01/21/16 01:03 PM EST
An F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter jet crashed Thursday morning near the base town of Bagdad, Ariz., according to a statement from the Air Force.
The pilot's condition is unknown.
The aircraft was assigned to the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke Air Force Base and crashed around 8:45 a.m. north of the Arizona base, according to officials.
The Air Force said the cause of the crash was not immediately clear.
The 56th Fighter Wing trains pilots for both F-16 and F-35 aircraft. Bagdad is about two hours northwest of Phoenix.
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) tweeted that he was in touch with the Air Force base for updates on the crash, which officials were investigating on Thursday.
The aircraft is the third F-16 linked to the base that has crashed in less than three years, according to The Arizona Republic, with the others in 2013 and November 2015.
Local authorities found wreckage from the fighter jet early Thursday afternoon, according to the newspaper, hours after the aircraft was believed to have crashed.
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/266596-fighter-jet-crashes-in-arizona
