An F-15C that took off from Nellis AFB, Nev., crashed in a remote area roughly 115 miles north of Las Vegas around 4:45 p.m. on Monday, according to base officials. The piloted ejected and sustained no injuries, they said. A helicopter rescued the pilot, who was hiking away from the aircraft wreckage, about 30 minutes after the crash, reported the Associated Press (via the Las Vegas Review-Journal). The pilot was flown to a local hospital for evaluation. Lincoln County Sheriff Kerry Lee told AP that the crash site—on federal land northwest of Alamo—was “out in the desert” and “really hard to get to.” Lee said it didn’t appear that the airplane slammed into the ground since there was “a lot of the plane left,” but “burned up.” The Air Force is investigating the accident. (Includes Nellis release)
U.S. Air Force F-35s and F-22s regularly deploy deep into the Pacific region from Alaska, Utah, and Hawaii. In the future, though, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command would like to see the Air Force permanently station fifth-generation aircraft west of the international date line—closer to China.