Fighter jet’s 300-gallon fuel tank falls off, lands in Florida neighborhood, USAF says

The U.S. Air Force accidentally dropped a 300-pound fuel tank onto a residential neighborhood in the Florida Panhandle — and managed not to hit anything, according to Eglin Air Force Base.

It happened around 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 7, in Niceville, about an 8-mile drive northeast from the base.

The tank was attached to an F-16 Fighting Falcon with the 96th Test Wing, the base said in a news release. Investigators aren’t sure what caused it to detach.

“No fatalities or injuries occurred from the incident. There was no property damage initially reported,” the base said.

“Eglin authorities are cleaning up the area and taking measures needed to ensure the fuel tank is safely removed.”

Niceville officials say the tank hit near the intersection of Nathey Avenue and Monette Street, which is surrounded by single-family homes and townhomes. An elementary school is about four blocks east of the spot, maps show.

Neighbors reported hearing “a loud crash” and went outside to find “shredded wreckage ... feet from a home and a strong smell of jet fuel,” according to Midbaynews.com. Some said the impact sounded like “an explosion,” the news outlet reported.

The Air Force didn’t say how far the tank fell after detaching, or what happened when it hit the ground. A 300-pound fuel tank can weigh in excess of 500 pounds, experts say.

Military.com reports something similar happened in Ohio during the summer, when “an F-16 from the Ohio National Guard reportedly dropped a fuel tank during an emergency” in July.

“One part of the tank fell in Lake Huron in Michigan and exploded, and the other landed in a parking lot where some vehicles were damaged,” Military.com reported.

The 96th Test Wing handles testing and evaluation of “air-delivered weapons, navigation and guidance systems, command and control systems, and Air Force Special Operations Command systems,” the base reports.