Trona, US: A fighter jet from the US Air Force’s elite Thunderbirds display team has crashed in the Southern California desert during a training mission, with the pilot managing to eject safely, officials have confirmed.

The pilot, who has not been named, was taken to hospital with injuries described as non-life-threatening, according to the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

The F-16C Fighting Falcon went down at around 10:45 am on Wednesday while conducting training “over controlled airspace in California”, Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada said in a statement.

Emergency crews responded to reports of an “aircraft emergency” near Trona, an unincorporated community in the Mojave Desert roughly 180 miles (290 kilometres) north of Los Angeles. The region has seen military aviation accid

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