COLORADO SPRINGS — Radio traffic indicates the pilot who crashed a Thunderbird F-16 following a flyover of the United States Air Force Academy graduation ceremony Thursday afternoon was having some sort of plane problem.
Air Force officials have identified the pilot as Alex Turner, who ejected from the plane shortly before it crashed south of Peterson Air Force base at around 1 p.m.. He was seen walking after the landing, but is getting checked out by medical professionals as a precaution.
Turner met President Barack Obama shortly after the crash, the White House confirms. The president spoke at the graduation ceremony, and was headed to Peterson Air Force base when news of what happened first broke
White House spokesman Josh Earnest says the president thanked the pilot for his service and expressed his relief that Turner wasn't seriously injured.
The $36 million jet crashed in an open field. The Air Force says no injuries to civilians were reported.
"He made a conscious effort to get his aircraft away from residences," Lt. Col. Christopher Hammond, the commander and leader of the Thunderbirds, said during a news conference.
Hammond says Turner's plane did not experience any issues during the flyover at the Air Force Academy. Problems started to appear during the flight back to Peterson Air Force Base.
Investigators are working to determine what exactly caused the crash.
This is Turner's first season with the Thunderbirds. He joined in October 2015 and has performed in 22 shows this year. He flies in the Thunderbird 6 position.
Before joining the Thunderbirds, the Air Force says Turner served as an F-16 instructor pilot at Hill Air Force Base in Utah. He has logged more than 1,200 flight hours as an Air Force Pilot, with more than 270 combat hours over Libya and Iraq.
Hammond says they are trying to determine whether the Thunderbirds will fly during their next show, which is in New Mexico.
In an unrelated incident, a U.S. Navy Blue Angels jet crashed following takeoff during a practice flight in Middle Tennessee a few hours after the crash in Colorado. One person was killed.
