I’m sipping my coffee and reading about a US military F-16 fighter jet that crashed in Grand Traverse County, Michigan, on Thursday afternoon. The pilot, bless their heart, managed to eject safely, according to the Michigan State Police. I’m just glad I wasn’t flying my own plane in the area, or I might have gotten a bit of a scare. The crash happened during a training exercise, and the pilot was the only person on board. Now, I’m no expert, but it sounds like the pilot did everything right in this situation.
The audio captured by LiveATC.net is quite something, with a military pilot alerting air traffic controllers to a possible mayday, saying “I believe (they) may have taken a bird.” I mean, who doesn’t love a good bird-related excuse for a plane crash? It’s not exactly the most reassuring thing to hear, but at least the pilot was paying attention. And let’s be real, birds can be a real problem for planes. I’ve seen those things flying around, and they can be pretty reckless.
Video footage showed a fireball in a field next to homes, which is never a good thing. I can only imagine what the people in those homes were thinking when they saw the plane go down. “It appears that they may have lost an engine and ejected… but we do see a lot of black smoke, which we believe is the ejected F-16,” an air traffic controller relayed to other pilots. Well, that’s one way to get a smoke signal going. Somewhere in Atlanta, a producer thought this sounded terrifying, and I’m sure it made for some exciting news.
The pilot is in stable condition at a local hospital, which is great to hear. And thankfully, no one else was injured in the crash. The plane was participating in training exercises at a National Guard Base in Alpena, Michigan, so it’s not like they were just flying around for fun. Although, I have to wonder what kind of training exercise involves flying over a populated area. Maybe they were just trying to get a feel for what it’s like to fly over a bunch of scared civilians.
Everyone within a one-mile radius was evacuated due to a “hazardous chemical spill related to the plane crash,” which sounds like a real party. I’m sure the locals were thrilled to have to leave their homes because of a plane crash. Shellie Doornbos and her husband were driving home from running errands when they saw the fireball, and they even got to hear explosions coming from the fire. Because what’s a plane crash without a few explosions, right? They asked a police officer what was going on, and he told them it was a fighter jet crash and the explosions were ammunition. Well, that’s one way to spice up a Thursday afternoon.
While the causes of the crash are still unclear, it’s possible that a bird strike might have been the culprit. Because, as we all know, birds are just the worst when it comes to planes. Thousands of planes hit birds and other animals in the United States each year, according to the Federal Aviation Administration Wildlife Strike Database. In fact, 41 strikes were reported in Traverse City, Michigan, alone in 2025. I guess that’s just a risk you take when you’re flying around in a metal tube at high speeds.
The military will be investigating the crash, because that’s what they do when one of their planes goes down. And who knows, maybe they’ll even figure out what really happened. In the meantime, I’ll just be over here, sipping my coffee and reading about plane crashes. Because what’s more fun than that? In conclusion, it’s been a wild ride reading about this plane crash, and I’m just glad everyone involved is safe. And to all the birds out there, just remember: stay away from planes, folks!
Armchair patriot. Believes in the free market, cold beer, and that there’s always a guy named George behind every CNN segment.
Former remote-throwing champion turned #1 couch commentator on liberal panic in the media. Born in Texas (or so his mug says), he earned a degree in Fake Newsology & Beer Philosophy from YouTube University.
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