This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
An F-16 fighter jet piloted out of Hill Air Force Base crashed in Carrington Bay in the Great Salt Lake Thursday afternoon.
Base officials said the jet, from the 388th Fighter Wing's 421st Fighter Squadron, went down at 2:11 p.m., approximately 30 miles west of Hill Air Force Base. The pilot is said to have ejected safely, though was reportedly taken to a local hospital.
Public safety officials reported that the plane came down in Carrington Bay, in the Great Salt Lake.
The aircraft was conducting a close-air support training mission over the northern Utah Test and Training Range.
An emergency response team from Hill Air Force Base will respond to the crash location and a board of officers will investigate the causes of the crash, the Air Force reported.
The crash was at least the second involving a U.S. Air Force Fighting Falcon this month. U.S. Navy divers Wednesday were searching the ocean floor, about 25 miles off South Korea's west coast, in a bid to recover a F-16 that crashed there March 14, according to Stars and Stripes. That pilot also safely ejected.
The F-16, a single-seat fighter aircraft, is capable of flying more than 1550 miles per hour and can make turns withstanding up to nine times the force of gravity.