Aug 27, 2014 4:48 PM by AP

A search helicopter lands close to the scene where an Air Force F-15C fighter jet based in Massachusetts crashed near Deerfield, Va., on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014. The jet was on a standard training exercise to receive a system upgrade and had no munition onboard, said Maj. Matthew Mutti, from Barnes Air National Guard Base. Officials said the pilot's status was unknown. (AP Photo/The Staunton News Leader, Griffin Moores)

DEERFIELD, Va. - An experienced pilot on a standard maintenance mission was missing Wednesday after the flier's fighter jet crashed in the mountains of western Virginia, shaking residents but causing no injuries on the ground, military and law enforcement officials said.

The pilot of the single-seat F-15C reported an inflight emergency, then lost radio contact, authorities said. The pilot and jet are with the 104th Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, officials there said.

It was unclear whether the pilot had ejected from the jet, Col. James Keefe said at a news conference in Westfield, Massachusetts, home of the fighter wing. He noted that all pilots received ejection training every six months.

The plane had no munition onboard and was headed to New Orleans for radar installation as part of routine maintenance, Keefe said.

Just before 9 a.m., residents near Deerfield - with a population of just 130 people, about 135 miles northwest of Richmond - say they heard a series of explosions-like booms.

"It's the loudest noise I've ever heard," 63-year-old Rebecca Shinaberry, who lives on a farm about two miles away, said. "(It) just shook the ground, and from my house we could just see a big plume of smoke."

Turkey farmer A.D. Shinaberry said that from the first two booms, he thought a plane had broken the sound barrier. But 10 seconds later he heard a third boom - the crash, he said.

Then, "it was like a mushroom, black smoke came up," Shinaberry said.

Read more from the original source:

Military jet bound for N.O. crashes; pilot's fate unknown