ZURICH, Switzerland, Oct. 14 (UPI) — An F/A-18 fighter plane of the Swiss Air force crashed Wednesday during a training exercise in eastern France, the Swiss defense department reported.
The pilot ejected and was hospitalized with what Air Force Cmdr. Aldo Schellenberg said were “non-life threatening” injuries. The U.S.-built plane crashed in an uninhabited area near the French city of Besancon after takeoff from the Payerne, Switzerland, air base, and was involved in an air combat training exercise with two other planes, each an F-5 Tiger of the French air force, when the accident occurred.
The plane was one of 34 purchased by the Swiss Air Force during the 1990s. One crashed in 1998 in Switzerland’s Valais canton; another crashed in 2013 in Obwalden canton.
Investigations into Wednesday’s accident are underway, conducted by Swiss and French authorities.
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