Texas Air National Guard F-16 crashes in Grand Traverse County; pilot ejects

A Texas Air National Guard F-16 fighter jet crashed Thursday afternoon in Grand Traverse County, and emergency managers there ordered everyone within one mile of the site to leave their homes.

"EVACUATION ORDER now in effect due to a plane crash," Grand Traverse County Emergency Management posted. "Evacuate within 1 mile of the site. Evacuate away from the intersection of Co Rd 633 and Jefferson Pl." The site is along County Road 633, southwest of Traverse City. Earlier in the afternoon, emergency management had told people in the area to shelter indoors with windows and vents closed before the order changed to an evacuation.

The pilot got out. The 149th Fighter Wing said the pilot ejected safely, was recovered, was taken to a local hospital for treatment and was reported in stable condition. The wing did not release the pilot's identity.

For residents who left, Grand Traverse County Emergency Management said a shelter was set up at Kensington Church, 6880 Secor Rd., staffed with the American Red Cross. Its post read: "A Shelter is being established at Kensington Church, 6880 Secor Rd. If you have evacuated and need a place to go, Kensington Church and the American Red Cross are there…"

The aircraft was not based in Michigan. The 149th Fighter Wing said the F-16 Fighting Falcon was assigned to the wing, which flies out of Kelly Field at Joint Base San Antonio in Texas, and that it crashed during a training mission in northern Michigan. The wing said it is deployed to Michigan for training at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center as part of an exercise it calls Operation Northern Cactus, meant to test its ability to deploy and operate from an expeditionary location. The Alpena center is a Michigan Air National Guard training site that regularly hosts visiting units, and the F-16 is a single-engine fighter flown by Air National Guard units across the country.

The cause of the crash has not been announced. Military aviation mishaps are investigated by the Air Force.

What happens next: the Air Force investigation will determine the cause, and neither the wing nor Grand Traverse County Emergency Management has said how long the one-mile evacuation zone will stay in place or when residents along County Road 633 can go home. Grand Traverse County Emergency Management is posting updates at facebook.com/GTCemergency; the 149th Fighter Wing posts at 149fw.ang.af.mil.