MONCKS CORNER, S.C. (AP) – Federal investigators and local authorities have been combing through a wide swath of rural, sparsely populated land as they try to determine what caused an F-16 fighter jet to slam into a small plane over South Carolina, killing the plane’s pilot and passenger.
Debris from the collision, which happened near Moncks Corner, was scattered over a broad area about 20 miles northwest of Charleston, but there were no reports of any residents hurt or homes damaged, Berkeley County spokesman Michael Mule said.
An investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board was joining the investigation and the NTSB planned to hold a news conference Wednesday to announce its initial findings, spokesman Peter Knudson said.
Two people aboard the Cessna 150 were killed and the plane was completely destroyed. County Coroner Bill Salisbury planned to announce the names of the victims on Wednesday, government officials tweeted late Tuesday.
The jet’s pilot, Maj. Aaron Johnson from the 55th Fighter Squadron, ejected from his aircraft safely and was taken to Joint Base Charleston’s medical clinic for observation, officials from Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter said in a news release.