Firefighters stand by wreckage from a fighter jet where it crashed in a field near Lemoore Naval Air Station in California on Sept. 21, 2015. The pilot ejected and safely parachuted to the ground.(Photo: Apolinar Fonseca, AP)

A military pilot ejected safely from a fighter jet before it crashed near a naval air base in central California, officials said Monday.

The F/A-18E Super Hornet was based at Lemoore Naval Air Station, about 40 miles southwest of Fresno. Lemoore officials reported that the plane crashed around 3:55 p.m. PT, in an unoccupied field near the base.

The pilot was reported in good condition, authorities said. There were no immediate reports of damage or other injuries in the crash, which was under investigation.

The crash site is located just east of the Kings-Fresno county line, about two miles west of the naval air station, Adam Barresi, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol, told the Hanford (Calif.) Sentinel. The pilot reportedly parachuted to the ground, landed and walked over to emergency responders who were on scene, according to Kings County Fire Chief Bill Lynch.

The last crash near Lemoore took place in April 2011, when an F/A-18F Super Hornet crashed on private farmland just west of the base, the Sentinel reported. That crash killed Navy pilot Lt. Matthew Ira Lowe and weapon systems officer Lt. Nathan Hollingsworth Williams, who were training for an air show.

An investigation revealed that the aviators crashed just nine seconds after beginning a maneuver called the loaded roll. The maneuver was removed from demonstration flights following the crash.

In March 2010, two fighter jet pilots from Lemoore survived when their jets collided over the northern Nevada desert. The crash, which took place during a training mission, happened east of Fallon Naval Air Station, The Fresno Bee reported. One pilot landed his jet at the Fallon base about 15 minutes after the collision. The other pilot ejected safely before his jet crashed in a remote area of the base.

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