FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU/KTVF) – Two pilots onboard a South Korean F-16 jet ejected after the aircraft skidded off a runway at Eielson Air Force Base on takeoff Tuesday afternoon, according to base officials.
Eielson
officials said
an investigation is currently underway, according to the base’s public affairs office.
In an updated Wednesday, Eielson officials said a Republic of Korea Air Force F-16D Fighting Falcon took off around 4 p.m. Tuesday and “skidded into the grass infield during takeoff” with two aircrew personnel ejecting from the plane.
Originally, Eielson said the incident occurred when the jet “departed the prepared surface and aircrew ejected,” within the fence line of the base.
Eielson officials initially did not say how many crew members were involved, but said on Wednesday that two were onboard at the time and they were taken to Bassett Army Community Hospital for further evaluation after emergency crews with the 354th Fighter Wing responded to the scene.
One witness described seeing what appeared to be a damaged aircraft.
Sarah Sioka told Alaska’s News Source that she was traveling southbound along the Richardson Highway around 5:26 p.m. with her husband Eldon driving when she said she saw what appeared to be a damaged aircraft on base sitting in the runway along the flight line.
At the time, Sioka said there was no fire or smoke, but she estimated 8-10 emergency vehicles nearby.
The aircraft appeared to Sioka to be an F-16.
“The nose was down on the runway, kind of looked smushed a little bit, and then the back end was … up on its wheels,” she described. “The front wasn’t on the front wheel.”
Eielson officials asked the public to not stop on the Richardson Highway that parallels the base to avoid impeding recovery efforts and to not photograph from the road, as it violates federal law.
The incident comes just weeks after
two American F-16 fighter jets were forced to make an emergency landing
in the remote community of St. Paul, located in the Bering Sea, after one of them suffered an “engine malfunction,” according to the U.S. Air Force 8th Fighter Wing. The two jets in that instance were en route to Eielson.
This story has been updated with new information.
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