Associated Press report earlier today, Friday, in CA. Condolences to the pilot's kin:
A privately owned jet contracted by the military to play the enemy in training exercises crashed Friday in a Southern California farm field, killing the civilian pilot, authorities said.
The Hawker Hunter jet trainer went down near Naval Base Ventura County, fire department spokesman Steve Swindle said. The pilot was the only person aboard.
The high-performance military-style aircraft took off from the base on a training sortie with another jet trainer and went down as it was returning, about two miles from the runway.
"He was on final approach. He went down," Swindle said. He said the sky in the area was "bright and crystal clear."
The farm field where the plane crashed is between Point Mugu State Park, Camarillo Airport, and the Naval base, some 50 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
Debris from the crash covered an area about the size of a football field, Swindle said. There were no injuries on the ground and there was no fire, He said.
Read more:
Military trainer jet crashes in Calif.; 1 dead