The pilot of a U.S. Air Force Thunderbird ejected safely into a Colorado field Thursday, crashing the fighter jet moments after flying over a crowd watching President Barack Obama’s commencement address for Air Force cadets.
A short helicopter ride later, the pilot found himself shaking hands with the president on the tarmac at a nearby air base.
“The president thanked the pilot for his service to the country and expressed his relief that the pilot was not seriously injured,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
The Air Force identified the pilot of the F-16 fighter aircraft as Maj. Alex Turner, of Chelmsford, Mass. He has more than 270 combat hours over Libya and Iraq.
News of the crash broke while Obama’s motorcade was returning to Peterson Air Force Base for his flight back to Washington. Turner ejected about 15 miles south of the Air Force Academy near Peterson, where Air Force One was waiting to take off
Emergency responders who picked up Turner in the rescue helicopter brought him to a spot that happened to be on the president’s motorcade route back to Air Force One.
Nathan Lavin, spokesman at Colorado Springs Airport, which shares space with Peterson, said some flights were delayed because of Obama’s visit, not because of the crash.
It was one of two crashes Thursday for the military’s elite fighter jet performance teams. An official in Tennessee said a pilot was killed when his Blue Angels fighter jet crashed, but no civilians were hurt on the ground. The Navy’s Blue Angels team was near Nashville practicing for a scheduled performance this weekend.
In Colorado, the Thunderbirds had just finished their traditional show at the commencement, screaming overhead as the graduating officers tossed their white hats skyward.
The jets then did multiple fly-bys over the academy’s football stadium, where the graduation took place, blasting by in tight formations or looping high overhead.
There was no obvious sign of trouble with any of the jet aircraft during the performance.
Peterson base spokesman Jeff Bohn said it was unclear whether the plane developed problems while on its final approach path over empty fields. It also was unclear whether Turner maneuvered the jet into a position to crash without harming anyone on the ground.
