F-16 Crashes, Pilot Ejects Safely

An F-16 fighter jet crashed Friday east of the Barry M. Goldwater Range, a spokeswoman at Luke Air Force Base said. The pilot ejected safely.

Senior Airman Jill Propst said the Luke-based plane went down during a training exercise southwest of Sells in southern Arizona. The pilot was being taken to a hospital to be checked out but appeared to be OK, she said.

The F-16 is a $20 million jet used for air-to-air combat and air-to-surface combat missions.

Friday's crash was the ninth of a Luke-based F-16 in less than two years. Luke, located in suburban Phoenix, is the world's largest F-16 training base, flying more than 100,000 sorties a year.