Smoke rises after an F-16 fighter jet crashed in a rural area near Traverse City (AP photo)
Her husband, Fred Sobeck, 65, said he saw flames after driving toward the crash site. The US military began operating F-16s in 1979. The Air Force Safety Center records at least 14 Class A mishaps involving the aircraft since 2000. The designation generally applies when an incident results in more than $2 million in damage, destroys an aircraft or causes a service member’s death.
Wendy Sobeck, who lives in the area with her husband, said they initially believed a vehicle had crashed near their home. We couldn’t tell what it was, so my husband got into his pickup truck and saw what happened,” she said. “Police told me to get out of there because of explosions,” he said, recalling a “big fireball in the field” near a house and a camper. Neither structure was hit, he said.
“We thought there was a car accident outside our house. We saw big billowing black smoke. Another F-16C Fighting Falcon crashed in California’s desert in December while flying with the US Air Force Thunderbirds. The pilot also ejected safely in that incident.