Pilot ditched his plane to miss homes
He suffers minor injuries, but no one else hurt by crash.
CLINTON, MD. — A fighter pilot on a training mission ditched his jet in a wooded area Wednesday so that the plane would avoid crashing into a suburban Wash
ington neighborhood, the military said.
The F-16C went down about 200 yards behind a small subdivision of twostory brick homes in the
middle-class suburban community of Clinton, about 3 miles southwest of Joint Base Andrews. The pilot was treated for minor injuries and released from the hospital, said Lt. Col. Michael Corker, the pilot’s commanding offi- cer. No one else was injured.
The pilot, whose name was not released, is with
the District of Columbia Air National Guard and was flying one of four fighter jets from Maryland to a shoot- ing range in Pennsylvania for a training exercise when the crash happened.
Some residents in the area told reporters that they heard what sounded like gunfire after the crash.
Military officials said the plane was armed with “training rounds,” which are real bullets that lack the armor-piercing and explosive capabilities of rounds used in combat. Officials said the crash and subsequent fire might have caused some of those rounds to go off.
The cause of the crash is being investigated.
About 20 homes in the area of the crash were evacuated as a precaution because of the possibility that the crash released hazardous materials, Prince George’s County Fire and EMS spokes- man Mark Brady said. Residents were later allowed to return home.
Crystal Hollingsworth, who lives near the crash site and had to evacuate, said she heard a “huge crash” followed by the sound of “live rounds.”
Crystal’s husband, Tony Hollingsworth, said the “house shook” and he also heard the sound of gunshots in the woods, something that “sounded like a shootout.” He said it lasted for “10 to 15 minutes.”
Crystal Hollingsworth said pieces of the plane fell in her neighbor’s yard, damaging some of the home’s siding. She said there were proba- bly more than a dozen metal fragments, maybe about half an inch thick. Pieces from the crash ranged in size, some
about the size of a TV remote or a book. She said one was marked “confidential.” Some of the debris was still burning when she saw it.
Acting Fire Chief Ben Barksdale said pieces of the plane were burning when crews arrived and firefighters used water and foam to extinguish them. The fuse-
lage of the plane and one wing were intact at the crash scene. The wreckage was spread around a radius of roughly 40 yards, but debris was also found in other areas, a possible sign that it came off before impact, Brady said.