SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — To hear military jets flying around Sioux Falls isn’t unusual, but the end to one flight on Wednesday afternoon was unexpected.
At 2:43 p.m. Wednesday, one of the F-16’s with the 114th Fighter Wing in Sioux Falls slid off one of the runways at the Regional Airport, according to Captain Jessica Bak, Public Affairs Officer with the South Dakota Air National Guard.
Bak says the pilot, who was returning from a training mission, is safe.
The crashed jet could be seen sitting off the end of the runway at the southeast end of the airport, resting nose down with its cockpit open at the end of a trail of dirt gouged into the grass by the plane.
Bak told KELOLAND News that the Air Guard is establishing an Interim Safety Board to investigate what happened and look for a cause. Emergency personnel and Security Forces are on site guarding the plane at this time.
The 114th Fighter Wing of the South Dakota Air National Guard is based in Sioux Falls, with its headquarters just south of the Sioux Falls Regional Airport.
