NATION : AF Jet Crash Kills 2 in Georgia

An Air Force fighter jet crashed into a residential area today, setting two homes ablaze and killing the pilot and a housekeeper, authorities said.

The F-16A was on a training flight from Moody Air Force Base near Valdosta to Lake George Weapons Range in Florida when it crashed in southern Georgia, Moody officials said. The pilot was the only one aboard, public affairs officer Dee Tait said. Names of the dead were not immediately released.

Parts of the plane hit Mary Alice Corbitt’s home. Corbitt “was in the middle bedroom and heard a loud noise, a boom. The debris hit the house and debris came in. There was fire inside the house,” said her daughter-in-law, who said Corbitt was too upset to speak on the telephone.

“It was very loud--almost like a sonic boom,” said David McDonald, assistant principal at Atkinson County High School, about half a mile from the site. “It shook real hard.”