An Air Force pilot is recovering from minor injuries after he ejected from an F-16C Viper fighter jet flying above southern New Mexico on Monday.
An emergency response team was scrambled to retrieve the pilot, whose name is being withheld, after he successfully ejected during an aborted landing procedure at Holloman Air Force Base outside Las Cruces, New Mexico.
“The sole pilot on board successfully ejected and is currently being treated for minor injuries,” read a statement from the Air Force.
The crash marks the fifth Air Force crash since May, and an investigation into the cause of the most recent incident is underway. Earlier this month, a pilot flying an F-16CM Fighting Falcon died during a crash at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina.
This is the second crash outside Holloman Air Force Base in less than a year. A crash happened last October during a training flight. The pilot in that incident also ejected and survived.
