180th Fighter Wing jet drops fuel tanks during in-air emergency [Video]

SWANTON, Ohio — An F-16 fighter jet with the 180th Fighter Wing discarded two fuel tanks during an in-flight emergency Wednesday afternoon in northern Michigan, according to a press release from the Swanton military base.

No civilians or flight crew were injured in the incident, which was caused by a fuel tank malfunction during a routine training mission over Lake Huron.

One of the jet’s two tanks was manually jettisoned at about 1:30 p.m. and “landed without incident in Tawas Bay,” about 13 miles south of the city of Oscoda, the Fighter Wing said.

The second tank “came apart, midair causing pieces of the tank to land in the parking area of a local Tawas, Mich. business.” The Fighter Wing did not say if the pieces caused any damage to the parking area.

Both …