A Hawai'i Air National Guard F-15 fighter crashed today in the ocean 60 miles south of O'ahu at about 1:37 p.m., officials said.

"The pilot ejected. He's safe," said Capt. Jeff Hickman, a Hawai'i National Guard spokesman.

Hickman said there were two pilots doing routine "air-to-air" training.

Two Coast Guard cutters were on the scene of the crash, and the pilot was picked up by helicopter and taken to The Queen's Medical Center.

"He's in good condition," Hickman said.

The National Guard did not release the pilot's name or age, but said he was an experienced pilot.

The pilot's family was with him at Queen's and officials said he was in good spirits. He did not suffer any broken bones.

Three rescue aircraft crews from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point and crewmembers aboard the Coast Guard cutter Ahi, an 87-foot patrol boat, immediately responded to the incident, which occurred at 1:37 p.m. The Coast Guard was notified at 1:45 p.m. concerning the distress, a release said.

"(The other aircraft) did have visual contact with him, and then the Coast Guard got out there pretty quickly," Hickman said.

Crewmembers from the cutter Ahi, the cutter Kukui, a 225-foot buoy tender, and Coast Guard aircraft crews will stay on scene to check for pollution and debris.

The F-15 is part of the 199th Fighter Squadron, 154th Wing of the Hawaii Air National Guard.

It was the first crash for a Hawai'i Air Guard F-15, which serve in a homeland defense role for the state. The aircraft also are available for worldwide taskings.

A crash investigation will take at least 30 days, officials said.

Thirteen of 20 Hawai'i Air National Guard F-15 fighter jets stationed at Hickam Air Force Base returned to the air in mid-January after the twin-tail fighters around the world were grounded on Nov. 3.

The day before, an Air National Guard F-15C in Missouri experienced catastrophic structural failure and broke apart in flight during basic maneuver training.

The Hawai'i Guard's remaining F-15 Eagles remained grounded and were awaiting clearance from Air Combat Command on the Mainland.

Hawai'i has A, B, C and D models that are on average 25 years old, officials said. The plane that crashed today was a newer D model F-15 valued at $28 million.

The Hawai'i Air National Guard first received F-15s in 1987, replacing F-4 Phantoms.

The Hawai'i aircraft have two seats, although officials said there was only the one pilot in the crashed aircraft.

Hickman said he did not know if the F-15 crash was related to ongoing training at Kane'ohe Bay.

The Navy said last month that F-15 Eagles were to be used in an adversary role as eight U.S. Navy F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet jets from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Nine were conducting flight operations at Marine Corps Base Hawai'i, Kane'ohe Bay through Feb. 20. The Navy was to work with the Hawai'i Air National Guard's 199th Fighter Squadron to test the Navy's newest fighter aircraft technologies.

The Guard's 199th Fighter Squadron also will conduct operations in and out of the air facility throughout the testing period, said Navy Lt. Mark Huber, a public affairs officer.

Before today, the 199th Fighter Squadron was approaching a record 80,000 hours of accident-free flying in the F-15, Hickman said earlier.

Around the late 1960s, a Hawai'i Guard F-4 Phantom pilot did have to eject because of a fuel problem, he said.

The 63-foot-long F-15s, which can fly faster than 1,875 mph, or Mach 2.5 plus, were deployed to Iraq in 2000 for no-fly-zone duty and patrolled the skies above Honolulu after the 9/11 attacks.

The aircraft will be replaced by F-22A Raptors with stealth technology starting in late 2011.

The Air Force said last month that it plans to keep more than 40 percent of its older model F-15 fighter jets grounded indefinitely.

The decision was made after discovering that critical support beams had manufacturing flaws dating back nearly 30 years that could lead to catastrophic damage to the aircraft.

Air Force officials announced on Jan. 10 that the metal beams on 162 of the fighter jets have flaws — such as being too thin, too rough or improperly cut — adding that high-stress flight over the past three decades has exposed the problem.

The discovery came after an F-15C ripped into two large chunks on a training mission over Missouri in November, leading investigators to pore over the wreckage and order inspections of the 450 other F-15 A-D models. The planes were initially grounded that month.

Air Force officials announced yesterday that they are investigating possible liability on the part of Boeing, which purchased the original manufacturer of the airplanes — McDonnell Douglas — in 1997. The planes that have been found to have defects were built from 1978 to 1985.

The Air Force's 224 newer F-15E fighter jets do not have the same flaws and have been returned to service. The Air Force also returned 261 F-15 A-Ds to service after they were cleared for flight.

The Washington Post contributed to this report.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.