F-16 Crashes In New Mexico During Training Flight, Pilot Safe

An F-16 Falcon from the 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico crashed during a training flight, a report by Air Force Times said. 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., some 80 miles Southeast of Holloman, the base said. Emergency response teams were sent to the scene Tuesday night and a board of officers will investigate the crash. The cause is not yet known.

This latest crash marks an uptick in the number of accidents occurring with the aging single-engine fighter. The F-16 is known to be the safest aircraft on record. There has only been 2.3 of the aircrafts lost per 100,000 flight hours. Not a bad number considering that the fighter is reaching its 41st year of active service.

This will mark the third accident for the fighter since May. An F-16 from Spangdahlem Air Force Base in Germany crashed earlier this month after hydraulic failure caused the pilot to lose control of the aircraft. That pilot was also able to safely eject from the aircraft. Also in May, an F-16 crashed into a warehouse near March Air Reserve Base in California. Again hydraulic failure was the casue and the pilot had lost control over the aircraft. That pilot was treated for injuries and approximately 12 people on the ground were sent to hospitals.

Following that crash, several miles of the freeway had to be closed until munitions from the aircraft could be removed and destroyed.

The F-16 Fighting Falcon has been in service since 1978 when the Air Force took its first order from General Dynamics. There are still 1,200 f-16 falcons in the service with the United States Air Force in various roles today -- including those used by their aerial stunt team the "Thunderbirds."

The plane's airframe and powerplant haven't been upgraded since the early 90s and sadly we may start to see a increasing failures as the fleet begins to age. The Air Force has begun to phase the F-16 out, opting to go with the F-22 and F-35.