No injuries were reported on the ground, but authorities were still trying to reach the crash site located through its heavy smoke coming from a mountainside on today.
The pilot of the single-seat aircraft was with the 104th Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard in Westfield, spokesman Maj. Matthew Mutti said.
The jet was on a standard training exercise with no munition onboard, Mutti said. He didn't say where it was headed or release the pilot's name.
She said witnesses reported an explosion-like noise just before 9 am. "It's the loudest noise I've ever heard," 63-year-old Rebecca Shinaberry, who lives on a farm about 2 miles (3 kilometers) away, told The Associated Press. "(It) just shook the ground and from my house we could just see a big plume of smoke.