U.S. fighter jet crashes in eastern England, pilot safe

USPA News - A U.S. Air Force fighter jet crashed in a field in eastern England on Wednesday afternoon, British police said, but the pilot was safe with only minor injuries after ejecting from the aircraft. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

The accident happened at around 3:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday when the F-15D fighter jet went down in a field in Weston Hills, a hamlet near the town of Spalding in Lincolnshire county, while conducting a training mission in the area. Lincolnshire Police said emergency services responded to the scene after receiving calls from members of the public. "The plane has come down in an isolated rural area and no premises have been affected," a Lincolnshire Police spokesperson said in a statement. "A cordon has been put in place and the public are advised to avoid the area as the plane is alight and the fumes may be hazardous." American officials of the 48th Fighter Wing said the pilot - the only person on board the aircraft - was able to eject safely before the crash, but British police added that the pilot had suffered "very minor" injuries. The American service member did not require hospitalization for his or her injuries. The fighter jet was assigned to the 48th Fighter Wing at the nearby Royal Air Force station Lakenheath and was conducting a combat training mission when it went down, American officials said. It said a board of qualified officers would investigate the cause of Wednesday`s crash. The accident comes less than a year after a U.S. Air Force helicopter crashed in a nature reserve in a coastal area of eastern England on January 8. All four crew members on board were killed in the crash of the HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter, which is a highly modified version of the better-known Black Hawk aircraft.