F-16 pilot deploys ejection seat before plane crashes in White Sands National Park
A hypersonic pursuit aircraft crashed yesterday Tuesday in a national park in New Mexico, a southwestern US state, the US Air Force announced.
Its operator F-16 used his ejection seat before the plane crashed in White Sands National Park, Holloman Air Force Base said via Facebook.
“All non-emergency personnel should avoid the zone to avoid potential exposure to chemicals on the aircraft,” base management said.
Search and rescue teams were deployed to the area while an investigation into the crash, the cause of which is still unclear at this stage, began. The pilot, unharmed, was taken to a hospital for treatment and tests.
Famous for its giant hills of white sand filled with gypsum crystals, White Sands National Park attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
It is surrounded by a giant desert, managed by the US armed forces: they test various weapons, especially missiles, in it.
In this remote corner of the USA, the famous Trinity test took place in 1945, when the first atomic bomb in history was detonated. An episode that was recently found on the screens of cinemas all over the world, as its representation was included in the Oscar-winning film Oppenheimer.
The F-16 “Fighting Falcon”—or “Viper” as its American pilots prefer to call it—is a supersonic single-engine multirole aircraft developed for the US Air Force in the 1970s. Hundreds of examples, the vast majority modernized, they remain in service around the world.
Source :Skai
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