F-15 fighter jet crashes in southern Nevada

An Air Force fighter jet crashed in a sparsely populated part of southern Nevada Monday, but the pilot was able to eject from the aircraft without suffering any injuries, authorities said on Tuesday. The F-15C Eagle from Nellis Air Force Base crashed on federal land northwest of Alamo, Nevada, said Lieutenant Ken Lustig, an Air Force spokesman. Alamo is about 100 miles north of Las Vegas. Lincoln County Sheriff Kerry Lee said a citizen reported seeing a large explosion and fireball. "It was out in the desert, really hard to get to," Lee said. When deputies arrived, they found a debris field about 100 yards long. "It didn't look like the plane slammed into the ground," the sheriff said. "There was a lot of the plane left, but it burned up." The pilot had started walking and was picked up by a military helicopter about 30 minutes after the crash, Lee said. He was flown to Mike O'Callaghan Federal Hospital near Las Vegas for an examination that revealed no injuries, Lustig said. Lustig did not have any details about the nature of the flight and could not say whether the jet that crashed was accompanied by other aircraft. An investigation into the cause of the crash was under way, Lustig said.