EDMONTON — An investigation is underway after a CF-18 jet had to make an emergency landing in Nevada.
The jet was part of a group en route to California for annual training, said Lt. David Lavallee, public affairs for the Air Force.
The jet landed in Las Vegas to refuel on Saturday, but shortly after taking off, started having trouble with one of its engines, Lavallee said from Winnipeg on Sunday.
No one was injured and the jet landed safely at Nellis Air Force base, which is in Las Vegas city limits. Before the jet landed, however, it jettisoned two fuel tanks.
“There were civilians on the ground approximately 600 yards from the fuel tanks landing site. None of the civilians was injured and the incident is under investigation,” Nellis Air Force Base said on its website.
Lavallee said he didn’t know there were civilians around.
“It makes it safer to land without the fuel tanks. He (the pilot) followed standard procedure and co-ordinated a safe area in which to dump the fuel tanks,” Lavallee said.
Lavallee didn’t know if all the jets in the group had stopped to refuel or if it was just the one.
The other CF-18s continued on to the El Centro area in California.
“It’s an annual training deployment to take advantage of good weather conditions to do some flying,” Lavallee said.
The jet that made the landing is still at Nellis being examined, he added.