Officials: Pilots rescued after two F-15Cs collide
(CNN) -- The pilots of two F-15C fighter jets that collided Wednesday over the Gulf of Mexico have been rescued, authorities said.
Two F-15C fighter jets, like the one pictured, collided over the Gulf of Mexico, the Air Force says.
Air Force search and rescue and U.S. Coast Guard crews raced to the scene of the collision to pick up the two fliers, who had been on a routine training mission.
The single-seat jets were part of the 33rd Fighter Wing, a combat unit based at Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida panhandle.
The crash happened at about 3 p.m. ET and about 50 miles south of Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Florida.
In January a top Air Force general said a manufacturing defect blamed for causing a mid-air breakup of an F-15 Eagle fighter, which occurred in November, might lead the Air Force to permanently ground a quarter of those warplanes.
There is no information currently that points to a malfunctioning defect as the cause of Wednesday's incident. E-mail to a friend
