Guard F-15 fighter jet crashes in Indiana field

VINCENNES, Ind. – An F-15 fighter jet on a training mission crashed Wednesday in a farm field, authorities said. The pilot parachuted to safety, the military said, and no injuries were reported on the ground.

The pilot apparently was able to walk to a police officer and was taken to Vincennes Hospital to be checked, said Capt. Jim Jensen with the Indiana Air National Guard.

Col. Greg Champagne of the Missouri Air National Guard said that the pilot’s name was not being released but that the man, who parachuted to the ground, was in good condition.

Missouri National Guard Capt. Tamara Spicer said the pilot was being released from the hospital after treatment for minor injuries Wednesday but was unsure whether he had been released as of midafternoon.

“He’s an experienced pilot – flying over 15 years,” Champagne said during a news conference at Lambert Airport in St. Louis.

The jet and three other F-15s left St. Louis on Wednesday morning to fly practice maneuvers with four F-16 jets from the Indiana Air National Guard’s 181st Fighter Wing, based in Terre Haute, the Guard said. No other aircraft were damaged when the fighter went down at 9:49 a.m. CDT just outside Vincennes, in southwestern Indiana.

Dale McCrary, who lives about a mile away, said he and his son saw the plane spiral to the ground. They drove to the crash site, where they saw the plane’s tail sticking up from the ground and the pilot on his back near the plane’s windshield.

“He was kind of white-ish looking,” McCrary said. “Just all shook up.”

Smoke was visible several hours after the crash in a field between two farmhouses and near large power lines. No live munitions were on the plane, but some of the burning material could be hazardous, so officials urged people to stay clear of the area, said Col. Chris Colbert, vice commander of the 181st Fighter Wing, which was helping investigate.