F-16 Crashes Off the Coast of Atlantic City

A T L A N T I C   C I T Y, N.J. , Aug. 31 -- An F-16 Air Force jet on a trainingflight crashed into the ocean today about a mile and half offthe New Jersey coast.

The pilot, who ejected from the aircraft before it crashedabout 1.5 miles off the coast, was rescued by a New Jersey State Police boat andtaken to a nearby hospital, said Staff Sgt. Barbara Harbison of thestate Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

The pilot reported a problem with the oil pressure just beforethe engine failed about 3:40 p.m. and the jet went down, said RayMartyniuk, another spokesman for the department.

The pilot was on a routine training flight for the 177th FighterWing.

Harbison said three other planes that were flying in formationwith the downed fighter returned to their base at Atlantic CityInternational Airport without problems.

Not the First

It was the third U.S. crash this month involving an F-16.

On Monday, an Air Force reservist on a training mission waskilled when his F-16 crashed in a Texas field. Another F-16 crashedAug. 7 in the Nevada desert after apparently clipping another jetduring a training exercise. That pilot ejected safely, and theother plane was able to land.