The pilot has been hospitalized and is in "good condition," according to a military statement.

The jet crashed in a field just about 330 yards (300 meters) from Laufeld's residential area, Peters said. The town's mayor, Karl-Josef Junk, told the German news agency DAPD that a catastrophe was "narrowly avoided."

The twin-engine A-10 is used to provide close air support for ground forces by attacking tanks and other targets.

Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze following the crash, Peters said.

The aircraft, also known as the Warthog, was part of the 81st Fighter Squadron at the Spangdahlem Air Base, in Rhineland Palatinate, said Senior Airman Nathanael Callon, a spokesman for the 52nd Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem.

The 52nd Fighter Wing said in a statement the A-10 was "was on a routine local training mission" when it crashed Friday afternoon.

The pilot's identity is withheld pending the notification of his family members. A board of officers will investigate the accident, the statement said.

Spangdahlem Air Base, founded in May 1948, is one of 16 major operating locations for the U.S. Air Force in Europe, and about 5,500 military personnel are currently assigned to the base, according to its website.

Source: By Associated Press Juergen Baetz, BERLIN – Fri Apr 1, 2011
Photo: A firefighter works at the site where a US military plane crashed in a field near Laufeld, western Germany on Friday, April 1, 2011. A police spokesman said the pilot ejected before the crash. He was injured and hospitalized. The spokesman identified the plane as a Warthog an A-10 Thunderbolt. (photoblog.msnbc.msn.com)