Navy pilot safely ejects before fighter crash in Northern Nevada

FALLON — A Navy pilot has safely ejected from a fighter jet that crashed in the northern Nevada desert during a training mission near the Fallon Naval Air Station.

Air station spokesman Joseph Vincent confirmed the F/A-18C Hornet crashed about 10:45 a.m. Tuesday about 10 miles southeast of the naval base in Fallon, about 60 miles east of Reno.

Vincent says the pilot was returning to the base from a routine training mission when he was forced to eject. He was taken to a clinic on the base, then transferred to a Fallon hospital where he was being evaluated Tuesday afternoon.

Vincent says the plane is attached to the Marine Strike Fighter Squadron 232 based at Marine Air Station Miramar, California. It was on a temporary assignment to the Strike Fighter Wing Pacific Detachment in Fallon.

The accident remains under investigation.