document: A U.S. Air Force A-10 attack jet crashed and burned in Britain this morning while on a routine training flight . The Pentagon said the pilot might have ejected safely . It was the second crash of a Thunderbolt jet in Europe in two weeks . Another A-10 crashed Dec. 8 in Tracy , Ariz. . Dan Howard , the Pentagon 's chief spokesman , originally identified the plane as an A-10 aircraft from the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing at RAF Bentwaters , England . The Air Force later corrected that statement , saying the A-10 was assigned to the 10th Tactical Fighter Wing at RAF Alconbury . Howard said the plane `` crashed at 9:53 a.m. EST about four miles south of St. Ives , or about 25 miles north of Cambridge . '' `` The pilot ejected and his chute was sighted but we do n't know his status , '' Howard said . The aircraft was carrying `` dummy bombs and practice 33mm ammunition , '' the spokesman said . He said he had no information about damage on the ground . The A-10 , a twin-engine jet designed to support troops by killing enemy tanks and other ground targets , is an older model plane designed to be highly maneuverable at low speeds and low altitude and to carry a lot of bombs and ammunition . The Thunderbolt II is also one of the safest planes , statistically , in the Air Force inventory . Nonetheless , today 's crash comes just two weeks to the day after another A-10 slammed into the West German city of Remscheid , killing five and injuring dozens . That crash prompted the United States and its NATO allies to agree to suspend all A-10 flights over West Germany until Jan. 2 . The suspension was ordered as German political parties and public interest groups increased their demands for an end to low-level flight training in Germany . On the same day as the crash in Remscheid , an A-10 crashed near the heart of the Tohono O'Odham Indian Reservation , about 80 miles west of Tuscon , but the pilot ejected safely . Howard refused today to discuss the possible cause of the crash in England , saying the Pentagon was still awaiting initial reports from the scene and confirmation that the pilot survived . The Thunderbolt first flew in 1975 and became operational with the Air Force in 1977 . The plane is no longer in production , but the Air Force has more than 700 of them in its inventory . Statistically , the A-10 over time has been the safest fighter or attack plane currently in the inventory . The aircraft has chalked up a major accident rate of less than 4 Class A mishaps per 100,000 flying hours over its lifetime _ which now consists of more than 1.75 million flight hours . A Class A mishap is one in which there is either a fatality or damage exceeding $ 500,000 to an aircraft . The Air Force describes the A-10 as `` a simple , effective and survivable twin-engine jet aircraft that can be used against all ground targets ... The aircraft has excellent maneuverability at low air speeds and altitude and highly accurate weapons delivery . ''
extractive_keyphrases: second crash britain routine training flight pilot suspension
abstractive_keyphrases: u.s. air force a-10 attack jet a-10 aircraft