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Military aircraft crashes in Northern Mississippi

Story Provided By: WMCTV Raycom Media

A military aircraft participating in a training exercise crashed Thursday afternoon in Northern Mississippi.

Officials with Columbus Air Force Base said the accident happened at 1:30pm Thursday afternoon approximately 10 miles west of Batesville on Curtis Road, near Highway 6.

The crash occurred in an extremely remote area of Panola County, a place where military jets frequently fly training missions. But on this training mission, the student got a much different lesson.

Military and medical personnel rushed to the crash scene of a T-38 jet in a remote area of Panola County.

"[It was a] loud roar, real close to the house," said 12-year-old Dakota Pierce, who heard the jet flying during a low level training exercise. "It startled me pretty bad."

Investigators say the pilot and trainee ejected moments before the T-38 went down. "I asked one of the pilots what happened. He said a flock of geese flew up and they went down," said land owner Kevin Locke.

"This time of year geese are really bad in this part of the neighborhood," added Philip Alford, who also lives in the area.

By nightfall, the scene on the ground remained crowded with little activity. Military personel will be stationed on-site through the night so they can continue their investigation first thing in the morning.

"A safety investigation is underway," explained one Columbus Air Force Base official.

Medics checked out the pilot and trainee. They were given the green light to return back to Columbus Air Force Base tonight.