An F-16 fighter jet and a small plane collided Tuesday over South Carolina, raining down plane parts and debris.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the fighter jet collided with a Cessna around 11 a.m. about 11 miles north of Charleston.
Lt. Jenny Hyden, a spokeswoman for Shaw Air Force Base in Columbia, said the pilot ejected to safety and was taken to the base for observation. She did not disclose his condition. No one else was on board the single-seat jet.
It was not immediately known how many people were on board the smaller plane or if any of them survived. It also was not immediately known if anyone was hurt on the ground.
A witness reported that the military plane broadsided the smaller Cessna, said Berkeley County Coroner Bill Salisbury. He said debris was scattered over a wide area. Officials said during a news conference that most of the debris was in a marshy area, including a rice field.
"We have airboats and boats that are designed to run in the mud," Salisbury said.
The National Transportation Safety Board has opened a probe into the collision and is sending an investigator, said Keith Holloway, a spokesman for the board.
The Air Force has flown F-16s since the 1970s, though very few active-duty squadrons still fly them. F-16s from Shaw Air Force Base, about 35 miles east of Columbia, routinely fly training missions over eastern South Carolina and the Atlantic.
The smaller plane was a Cessna 150, according to the FAA, a two-seat plane that debuted in 1959 and remains one of the most common single-engine planes in the U.S.
The Cessna 150's maximum altitude is about 15,000 feet, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Most models weigh about 1,500 pounds when fully fueled. By comparison, an F-16 is about 50 feet long and weighs nearly 10 tons, not counting fuel or weapons.