AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AP) — President Barack Obama met with the pilot of a U.S. Air Force Thunderbird jet shortly after the plane crashed following a flyover at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest says the president thanked the pilot for his service and expressed his relief that he wasn’t seriously injured. The pilot safely ejected.
The F-16 crashed in a field near Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs just after ceremonies at the nearby academy where Obama delivered the commencement address.
Authorities say no one on the ground was injured.
Obama was still at Falcon Stadium at the Air Force Academy, where commencement took place. The ceremony lasted about 30 minutes. The president was taking photographs and greeting attendees in a private area during the Thunderbirds flyover.
News of the crash broke while Obama’s motorcade was returning to Peterson Air Force Base — just next to where the jet crashed — for his flight back to Washington.
One person was killed later the same day when a U.S. Navy Blue Angels jet crashed in Smyrna, TN.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.