Two South Carolina Air National Guard F-16 fighter pilots ejected safely after an apparent midair collision in eastern Georgia, the Guard said.
said.
The jets were assigned to the South Carolina Air National Guard's 169th Fighter Wing, which operates out of McEntire Joint National Guard Base in Eastover, South Carolina.
The base commander, Colonel Nicholas Gentile, said the two pilots are among the most experienced in the unit.
Col Gentile said he could not yet release their names, but said they are back in South Carolina being debriefed as part of the investigation.
The pilots were talking normally and did not appear to be hurt when they were found, Mr Anderson said.
"We transported them to the hospital for precautionary measures until the military could pick them up," Mr Anderson said.
One pilot was found in a pasture and the other at the edge of some woods. The pilots did not discuss details of the crash with him, Mr Anderson said.
A Blue Angels F/A-18 crashed last on Thursday near Nashville, Tennessee, while taking off for a practice session. The pilot, Marine Captain Jeff Kuss, was killed.
Also Thursday, a Thunderbirds F-16 crashed outside Colorado Springs, Colorado, but that pilot, Major Alex Turner, ejected safely. The Thunderbirds had just performed over the open-air graduation ceremony at the nearby Air Force Academy, where President Barack Obama spoke.
In May, two Navy jet fighters collided off the North Carolina coast. The four people on board the jets were pulled from the Atlantic Ocean by a commercial fishing ship.
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