FRESNO, Calif. – Authorities say the pilot of a plane that crashed near a Central California military base ejected in midair and safely parachuted to the ground.
Kings County Fire Chief Bill Lynch tells The Sentinel newspaper in Hanford (http://bit.ly/1MFGH9y ) that the pilot walked to emergency responders after reaching the ground Monday afternoon.
The newspaper reports that the plane was an F-18 fighter jet.
California Highway Patrol Officer Scott Jobinger says it went down in a dirt field about 3 miles from Lemoore Naval Air Station.
Jobinger says a fire from the crash has been extinguished, and no roads have been closed.
Lemoore Naval Air Station, about 45 miles south of Fresno, is a center for the Navy's West Coast FA-18 fighter jet operations.
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