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Posted on 12/03/2025 1:32:12 PM PST by DFG
A military plane believed to be an F-16C Fighting Falcon from the U.S. Air Force crashed near Trona Airport in San Bernardino County Wednesday morning.
A massive plume of black smoke can be seen in a video posted to X by DisasterAlert, followed by at least one person careening toward the ground with a parachute.
The plane was part of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, the military’s official aerial demonstration team, the social media post said.
A witness called the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office at 10:28 a.m. reporting that at least one pilot had ejected and was being transported to the hospital, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The investigation is being handled by China Lake Police at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in Ridgecrest.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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That's a shocker. Those have to be among the most pampered aircraft in the entire Air Force.
Single engine. I wonder if it sucked down a bird.
I have an in-cockpit video of a TB pilot attempting a loop and coming out too low and ejecting.
That was all pilot error, not aircraft.
Trona, CA... what a hell-hole that place is. I can't believe people still live there.
Thought F-16’s only had one pilot...”careening” to the ground?
Was parachute not working?
Closest I ever got was Ridgecrest.
Had relatives working on base at China Lake.
There are some 2 seater versions used for training purposes.
Might not have had enough distance to the ground for it to fully open and slow him down.
But the C is a single seat.
Been to Trona as well and your description is accurate.
A desolate uninviting place on the shores of a dried up lake bed.
I’ve been through Trona several times on my way to Death Valley, via Tehachapi Pass and Ridgecrest.
One of their claims to fame is having one of only two all-dirt high school football fields in the US (other is in Alaska). Also, one of the bleakest highway rest stops in the country, which I always stop at. Haha.
The "parachute careening" is extreme literary license used by a media that just can't help themselves from being drama queens.
The A and C models are single seaters. The B and D models are trainers (2 seaters).
When my husband was deployed with a mobilization exercise with the early F16s, I took our boys to a Thunderbird demonstration at Hill AFB.
One of the opposing solo planes flamed out and crashed at the end of the runway, and the pilot was killed.
I knew what had happened when I saw the smoke pall, but our sons just couldn’t believe it.
They only accepted it when the remaining Thunderbirds flew over in the missing man formation.
I think the Thunderbirds were still flying T38s at that time.
Thanks....
Pilot is in stable condition.
“one person careening toward the ground with a parachute.”
Careening? Maybe drifting, floating, etc.
Chute was open and he/she/it was a few hundred feet up.
You have to decide when you sit in a jet like that, your minimums, when you punch and when you don’t
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