A contractor-operated Dassault Aviation Mirage F-1 has crashed near Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, according to military officials, and the pilot reportedly has died.
Clark County Fire Department officials confirmed the pilot was killed in the plane crash, according to reporter Orko Manna, but it is unknown whether the pilot died in or after the crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the Mirage F-1 crash, and an investigator is en route to the crash scene, officials announced Monday night.
Black smoke rose from the crash scene and was seen for miles, according to multiple reports.
The plane crashed in a yard where a neighbor, Alex Reyes, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal he heard a loud thump and then saw black smoke billowing from the home.
Neighbor Eugenia Brackeen told the newspaper she heard a boom so loud that she couldn’t hear her television. She said her power went out for a short time.
Witnesses posted online images of a plume of smoke not far from a southern fence to the base, of city and base fire crews arriving, and a helicopter circling.
In a Twitter post, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said he and his wife, Kathy, were “praying for all those involved in today’s incident,” including Nellis servicemembers and first responders.
Deputy Clark County Fire Chief Warren Whitney confirmed only that fire crews were called to the area in unincorporated county territory. He directed follow-up inquiries to Nellis.
Police cordoned off the neighborhood about 7 miles northeast of downtown Las Vegas.
Nellis is best known internationally as host of periodic training exercises in which U.S. and allied pilots conduct mock battles over a restricted military reserve in central Nevada that is half the size of the state of New Jersey.
Aircraft based at Nellis include F-16 Falcon and F-22 Raptor fighter jets and A-10 Warthog attack jets.
The base also is home to the elite Thunderbirds flight demonstration team.
Retired Brig. Gen. Robert Novotny, who stepped down last year after commanding the 57th Wing at Nellis, told KTNV-TV that contract aircraft and pilots take part in some exercises as participants “to train against.”
The crash was the first out of Nellis since Thunderbirds pilot Maj. Stephen Del Bango of Valencia, California, died in April 2018 during a training flight over the Nevada Test and Training Range.
In September 2017, an Air Force pilot died after a crash about 100 miles northwest of Nellis.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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