F-16 crashes at Holloman; pilot ejects

An F-16 Fighting Falcon from the 314th Fighter Squadron taxis toward its new home in the hangars at Holloman Air Force base, N.M., June 16, 2015. The 308th Fighter Squadron and their F-16s have moved their base of operations to Holloman as a tenant unit, along with other squadrons from the 54th Fighter Group. The 54th Fighter Group will be activating the 314th Fighter Squadron with the 12 F-16s that has been transferred to Holloman. In March of 2014, the 54th Fighter Group was activated at Holloman, The 314th FS is the second squadron to transfer from Luke. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Chase Cannon/Released)

An F-16 from the 49th Wing at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico crashed during a training flight Tuesday evening.

The pilot successfully ejected from the fighter, and was being treated at a local hospital, the base said in a Facebook post.

The crash occurred at about 7:16 p.m., about 80 miles southeast of Holloman, the base said. Emergency response teams were on their way to the scene Tuesday night, and a board of officers will investigate the crash, Holloman said.

It is not yet known what caused the crash.

Another F-16, from Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany, crashed in western Germany earlier this month. Its pilot also ejected, sustaining minor injuries.

And in May, an F-16 crashed into a warehouse at March Air Reserve Base in California after experiencing hydraulic problems that caused the pilot to lose control of the aircraft. That pilot safely ejected, but a dozen people on the ground were sent to hospitals for evaluation after they were exposed to debris. Miles of freeway around the area had to be closed until munitions from that jet were destroyed.

Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.