LOS ANGELES -- An F-16C fighter jet with the US Air Force crashed Wednesday morning and the pilot managed to eject from the plane safely.

At about 10:45 am local time, a "Thunderbird pilot ejected safely from an F-16C Fighting Falcon aircraft during a training mission over controlled airspace," the US Air Force said in a statement.

US Air Force Sgt Jovante Johnson was quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying that the crashed jet was assigned to the Air Force Thunderbirds, an aerial acrobatic demonstration team based at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

The cause of the accident was under investigation, he wrote in an email to the newspaper.

California's San Bernardino County Fire Department said the plane crashed near China Lake, a community located about 270 km north of downtown Los Angeles.