An F-16 fighter jet from the Texas Air National Guard crashed on Thursday in a rural area of Michigan during a training exercise, causing a large fireball and subsequently forcing the evacuation of nearby residents.
The pilot managed to eject before the impact and was taken to a local hospital, according to the AP agency. Hours later, the Texas Air National Guard confirmed that he was in stable condition, according to FOX 2 Detroit.
The accident occurred in Blair Township, in Grand Traverse County, southwest of Traverse City. The plane belonged to the 149th Fighter Wing, based at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas, and was participating in a joint training mission when it crashed.
Although the authorities have not yet officially determined what caused the accident, communications between the pilots and air traffic control provide an initial clue.
"We have a possible mayday. My partner may have collided with a bird," can be heard from the other pilot of the formation in an audio released by The War Zone.
The specialized media warned that it has not been able to independently confirm that a bird strike was the cause of the accident, so that possibility remains preliminary.
The local residents described tense moments after hearing the impact and seeing a column of black smoke.
Wendy Sobeck told AP that she and her husband initially thought there had been a car accident near their home. “We saw a large column of black smoke,” she recounted.
Her husband, Fred Sobeck, 65, drove up in his truck and found remnants of the plane scattered across a field. The man described a "great ball of fire" near a house and a trailer, which were not hit.
"The police told me to get out of there because of the explosions," he explained to AP.
The emergency forced the authorities of Grand Traverse County to implement security measures. They initially ordered residents of a Blair Township area to stay indoors, close windows and ventilation ducts, and follow the instructions of the emergency crews, according to 9&10 News.
Subsequently, the county's Emergency Management Office issued an evacuation order for residents within a one-mile radius of the accident site. A temporary shelter was also established at Kensington Church, with assistance from the Red Cross, according to local media.
The 149th Fighter Wing specializes in training F-16 pilots. The unit was deployed in Michigan participating in Operation Northern Cactus, an exercise aimed at training its ability to deploy forces and operate from an expeditionary location, according to information from the unit itself collected by The Aviationist.
The accident adds to other recent incidents involving U.S. military aircraft. In December 2025, an F-16C from the Thunderbirds demonstration squadron crashed in the desert of Southern California, and its pilot also managed to eject.
In June of this year, eight crew members died when a B-52H bomber crashed at Edwards Base, while in May two EA-18G Growlers collided during an air show in Idaho, although all four crew members managed to eject.
Since the year 2000, at least 14 "Class A" accidents involving F-16s have been recorded, according to data from the Air Force Safety Center cited by AP. This category generally applies when damages exceed two million dollars, an aircraft is destroyed, or a service member is killed.
For the moment, the military authorities have not officially established the cause of the accident.
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