In a video that has since gone viral (below, tweet), warehouse workers can be heard coming around the corner where the F-16 has crashed and saying:
‘Holy (expletive, expletive) dude … that’s a (expletive) airplane, that’s a military airplane in our building’
US F-16 fighter jet crashes into California warehouse during training mission, pilot escapes injury #USfighterJetCrash pic.twitter.com/tmMR4k6WJT
— Carole (@mrscarter22) May 17, 2019
A piece of the plane’s canopy and a parachute were seen on the nearby runway after the pilot ejected, surviving the crash. No injuries were reported on the ground.
#BREAKING image from inside a warehouse near March Air Reserve Base where a fighter jet crashed this afternoon Courtesy: Jeff Schoffstall pic.twitter.com/OJa0WBRMnM
— Rob McMillan (@abc7robmcmillan) May 16, 2019
Although footage from the scene clearly showed a large hole in the roof of a warehouse and the debris undoubtedly confirming a crashed jet inside, a March ARB spokesman Major Perry Covington initially lied to media, for reasons unknown other than this is standard practice among American officials, and said that the plane crashed at the end of the runway while landing, and did not hit any buildings. This is despite copious empirical, photographic, and eyewitness evidence to the contrary.
BREAKING: Here is a closer look at the hole in the building after the F-16 crashed. @foxla pic.twitter.com/iGYkxd7p72
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) May 16, 2019