F-16 Crashes Near Major U.S. City

A U.S. military F-16 went down in northern Michigan on Thursday during a training flight, catching fire after the pilot ejected. The jet belonged to the Texas Air National Guard’s 149th Fighter Wing and had been flying out of the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center when it crashed in Grand Traverse County.

The Texas Military Department said the pilot “successfully ejected from the aircraft.” Michigan State Police later said the pilot was taken to a local hospital and listed in stable condition. No one else was reported injured.

The wreckage landed south of Traverse City. Witnesses described a large plume of black smoke and flames in a field near homes. The impact was close enough to populated areas that officials treated the scene as more than a remote training mishap.

Audio from air traffic control captured before the crash raised the possibility of a bird strike. “We have a possible mayday by wingman. I believe (they) may have taken a bird,” a military pilot told controllers, according to recordings captured by LiveATC.net.

A later transmission suggested the jet may have lost an engine before the pilot left the aircraft. “It appears that they may have lost an engine and ejected… but we do see a lot of black smoke, which we believe is the ejected F-16,” a controller relayed to other pilots.

An F-16 fighter jet crashed in Grand Traverse County, Michigan, on Thursday, and an evacuation order is in effect along part of County Road 633, the county's emergency management said.

A spokesperson with the 149th Fighter Wing of the Texas National Guard confirmed that the… pic.twitter.com/ryAwGPb5DA

— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 17, 2026

Officials have not confirmed a cause. Military leaders said an investigation is underway. Bird strikes are common in U.S. aviation, with thousands reported each year, but investigators have not ruled that explanation in or out.

The crash also triggered a hazardous materials response. Michigan State Police evacuated homes and businesses within a one-mile radius because of a “hazardous chemical spill related to the plane crash.” Most residents were allowed to return by 10 p.m. Thursday.

Witness Shellie Doornbos said she and her husband were driving home when they saw a fireball and heard repeated explosions. She told CNN they asked an officer what they were hearing and were told it was a fighter jet crash and that the explosions were ammunition.

CBS News reported that an evacuation order was in effect along part of County Road 633. A spokesperson for the 149th Fighter Wing confirmed the aircraft and the pilot’s ejection as the response unfolded.

The 149th Fighter Wing had been on a routine training mission in Michigan when the jet went down. Investigators will now try to determine why the aircraft lost power so close to Traverse City.

The location put the crash in view of residents rather than over isolated range land. That made the smoke, fire, and evacuation the public face of an accident that, for the military, began as a standard training sortie.

Officials have not said whether ammunition cooked off in the wreckage or how much fuel and hydraulic fluid spilled. Those details are expected to come out of the formal investigation.

For now, the confirmed facts are limited: one F-16 destroyed, one pilot alive and stable, no civilian casualties, and a short-lived evacuation around the crash site.