A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon pulls away after refueling with a KC-135 Stratotanker assigned to the 91st Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron over the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, Feb. 3, 2023. (Diana Cossaboom/U.S. Air Force)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — An American F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed Saturday in an agricultural field near Osan Air Base, according to the 51st Fighter Wing.
The crash occurred around 9:45 a.m. about 10 miles from Osan and 30 miles south of Seoul, the wing said in a news release. The pilot ejected safely and is in stable condition after being taken to an urgent care facility on base.
No other injuries were reported and an investigation is underway, the wing said.
The F-16 was assigned to the 8th Fighter Wing out of Kunsan Air Base, about 115 miles south of Seoul. Around 30 F-16s from Kunsan were temporarily relocated to Osan in March due to routine repairs of the base’s runway.
“While we don’t have any additional information yet, we are relieved the pilot safely ejected and there were no other injuries,” 8th Fighter Wing commander Col. Henry Jeffress said in the release.
U.S. F-16s have been routinely used in aerial exercises in and around the Korean Peninsula.
Four F-16s flew alongside at least two Air Force B-52H Stratofortress bombers and four South Korean F-35As in an airpower demonstration on April 14, one day after North Korea fired a ballistic missile.
