A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon from the 8th Fighter Wing at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea in April 2023. (Tyler Harmon/U.S. Marine Corps)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — An Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed into the Yellow Sea on Wednesday after an in-flight emergency, according to the 8th Fighter Wing at Kunsan Air Base.
The crash occurred around 8:41 a.m.; the unnamed pilot ejected and was recovered roughly 50 minutes later by U.S. and South Korean personnel, the wing said in a news release.
The pilot was conscious at the time of the rescue, 8th Fighter Wing spokeswoman Kaylin Hankerson told Stars and Stripes by phone Wednesday.
The pilot was on a routine flight at the time, she said.
Wing commander Col. Matthew Gaetke thanked those involved in “the swift recovery of our pilot” and in the release said the focus was now on the search and recovery of the F-16.
The incident marks the wing’s third F-16 crash in nearly nine months.
On Dec. 11, a Fighting Falcon went down in the Yellow Sea after an in-flight emergency, the wing announced at the time. The pilot ejected and was airlifted to a hospital.
On May 6, a Kunsan-based F-16 crashed into a farmer’s field near Osan Air Base, about 30 miles from Seoul. The pilot ejected safely and was treated at Osan’s urgent care center, the wing said at the time.
Kunsan, on the western coast of the Korean Peninsula about 115 miles from the capital city, is the home of the 8th Fighter Wing, which operates roughly 30 F-16s.
