A fighter jet with the Air Force`s elite Thunderbirds demonstration squadron crashed in the Southern California desert, but the pilot managed to eject safely, the military said The pilot was being treated at a hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening, according to the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

The F-16C Fighting Falcon crashed around 10:45 am on Wednesday during a training mission "over controlled airspace in California", according to a statement from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. The fire department said it had responded to an `aircraft emergency` near Trona, an unincorporated community in the Mojave Desert about 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Los Angeles.