An F/A-18 Hornet fighter aircraft was up in flames after crashing at the Zaragoza air base in Spain, approximately 300 Km from the country's capital Madrid.
In a video which is now viral on Twitter, the US-made F-18 Hornet fighter jet rapidly loses altitude and is seen nose-diving towards the ground before exploding at the perimeter of the air base.
The pilot ejected from the fighter jet was taken to a hospital, and his life is not in danger, Spain's defence ministry said in a tweet.
The Zaragoza air base, which lies about 16 kilometres outside the city, belongs to the Spanish Air and Space Force, Associated Press reported.
The fighter aircraft was training for a flying exhibition when the incident took place, Spain's public news agency EFE reported.
The McDonnell Douglas F-18 Hornet that crashed, belongs to Ala 15, an operational unit in the Spanish Air Force's Air Combat Command (ARCOM). The F-18 Hornet entered into service in Spain in 1986.
Manufactured by Boeing, the F/A-18 McDonnell Douglas was the first aircraft to have carbon fibre wings and the first tactical jet fighter to use digital fly-by-wire flight controls. Variants included a two-seater, an improved fighter, a reconnaissance aircraft and a night-attack fighter.
