Military aircraft crashes near Albuquerque airport, and the pilot is hospitalized after ejecting
A military aircraft crashed near Albuquerque’s main airport and a US Air Force base Tuesday afternoon, and the pilot – having ejected before the wreck – was sent to a hospital with serious injuries, officials in central New Mexico said.
The aircraft “crashed off of the airfield” on the south side of Albuquerque International Sunport, the airport in New Mexico’s most populous city said on social media. The site of the crash, which was reported just before 2 p.m. MT, also is near Kirtland Air Force Base.
The pilot ejected from the craft before the crash, and was found conscious and breathing, Bernalillo County Fire Rescue spokesperson William Harris said. The pilot was “transported with serious injuries,” Albuquerque Fire Rescue Lt. Jason Fejer said.
The pilot was the craft’s sole occupant, the airport said. Details about the type of aircraft involved, the craft’s destination and point of origin and what led to the crash weren’t immediately available. The pilot’s name wasn’t immediately released.
Kirtland Air Force Base and the Federal Aviation Administration are conducting an investigation into the crash, Fejer said.
Pictures from Bernalillo County Fire Rescue and CNN affiliate KOAT showed mangled, blackened wreckage on a desert landscape outside the airport. Bernalillo County firefighters extinguished a fire at the crash site.
Two civilians were evaluated at the site, but neither was taken to a hospital, Fejer said, without saying why they were evaluated.
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