Navy jet has 'catastrophic mechanical malfunction,' hits apartments in Virginia
Navy jet has 'catastrophic mechanical malfunction,' hits apartments in Virginia
April 6, 2012 -- Updated 2159 GMT (0559 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Nine people are injured; a search of two of five damaged buildings finds no casaulties
- Six people, including two pilots and a police officer, were taken to a hospital
- Rescuers will search five heavily damaged buildings for missing people
- Plane engine was straining and the jet was emptying fuel, witness says
(CNN) -- A Navy fighter jet experienced a "catastrophic mechanical malfunction" during takeoff Friday over the military community of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and rained a stench of jet fuel shortly before crashing into apartment buildings, according to residents and Navy officials.
The jet carried a student pilot in the front seat and an experienced instructor behind him, and the dumping of jet fuel was "one of the indications that there was a mechanical malfunction," Navy Capt. Mark Weisgerber told reporters.
The malfunction is being investigated, he said.
The two pilots, a police officer and three other people were taken to Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital, Dr. Thomas Thames, the hospital's vice president of medical affairs, told CNN affiliate WAVY.
None of the injuries was considered life-threatening, Thames said.
Virginia Beach Mayor William Sessoms told CNN that nine people suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The crash and explosion ruptured the easy mood of spring break and the unfolding Easter and Passover holiday weekend, and the two-seater F/A-18 jet landed eerily upright in flames in a courtyard surrounded by five apartment buildings suddenly set afire, according to residents and authorities.
The two crew members ejected safely, the Navy said. Resident Pat Kavanaugh told CNN affiliate WTKR that he and others found one of them still strapped to his seat with a lacerated face. Kavanaugh said he was on his couch when he heard a loud boom and was startled to see a parachute hanging from the building.
In shock, the pilot apologized for his jet crashing into the apartment complex, and residents pulled him safely away from the fiery crash zone, said Kavanaugh, a retired rescue worker.
The plane, which wasn't carrying live ordnance, crashed 2.2 miles from the runway, a senior Defense Department official told CNN.
One ejection seat shell ripped through an oak tree and crashed into a condo fence, and the other seat shell landed next door, suggesting that the two Navy pilots ejected at a low altitude, another resident, Keith Gutkowski, told CNN.
Once the five apartment buildings were doused with water and the courtyard was coated with a snowy foam, rescue crews were preparing Friday to do a grim, detailed search through the charred hulks to look for any residents injured or killed, Virginia Beach Fire Department Battalion Chief Tim Riley said.
As of Friday afternoon, rescue crews had searched two of the five buildings and found no casualties in the two structures, Mayor Sessoms said.
Eyewitnesses and residents described their community -- so accustomed to military planes taking off near their homes -- suddenly taking a surreal turn for the worse when the jet fell out of the sky and spewed its fuel, a maneuver to minimize the inevitable fire upon crashing.
Virginia Beach EMS Division Chief Bruce Nedelka said the carnage could have been much worse, had the plane's pilot not dumped fuel shortly before crashing.
"The pilot in the jet did an absolutely tremendous job," he said. "If that had not been done, the impact and the subsequent fire damage with all that extra fuel would have been intense. What he did was wonderful."
Witness Amy Miller, a resident who was getting ready to work at a nearby cleaners, told CNN she saw the cockpit ejection and flames under the right wing as the jet descended. The aircraft appeared tilted toward the right as it went down, she said.
As the crash site belched black smoke, residents ran toward the apartments but then ran away when subsequent explosions frightened them, eyewitnesses said.
"We're used to low-flying jets around here," said George Pilkington, who saw the jet fly over his truck.
"Because it was releasing so much fuel, I knew something was wrong," he added. "It sounded like the engine was straining or stressing.
"I don't know if there was a better or worse place to hit because there are so many apartments around the area," he told CNN. "If it was a half-mile to the west, it could have been a creek or marsh."
Pilkington said the plane was flying low, with its nose up and tail down.
"That it didn't cause more damage to the apartment buildings was a blessing," he said.
A Navy source told CNN that the fighter jet crashed shortly after taking off from Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach. The jet was from a training squadron at the air station, the Navy and Federal Aviation Administration said.
The jet hit the Mayfair Mews Apartment complex in Virginia Beach, according to U.S. Rep. Scott Rigell's office, whose district includes Virginia Beach.
The condition of the crew wasn't known, a Navy spokesman said.
Riley, the fire battalion chief, said no residents were reported missing early Friday afternoon.
But he added: "We're going to assume that there are people missing, and we're going to do a detailed search.
"It's going to take a while to get through there to see the details," Riley told CNN.
Resident Gutkowski said the plane crash site was 75 yards from his home, and his wife saw the plane "almost fall out of the sky."
"What they're saying about ejecting very late is definitely true," Gutkowski said about reports that the pilots apparently ejected at a low altitude.
"Both ejection seats are right here, and the parachute is right by the crash site," Gutkowski told CNN.
Another witness, Zack Zapatero, said the plane crashed into a building occupied by senior citizens. He took photos of the scene.
"There's these large fireballs coming up," Zapatero said. "I was told there was a bunch of senior citizens that live in that building, which worries me a lot.
"Buildings were starting to collapse," he said of the wreckage scene.
"Through the smoke, you could see the end of the plane sitting in the courtyard," Zapatero said.
Colby Smith told CNN affiliate WVEX that he was in his bathroom when he felt his "whole house shaking." Then he looked out his bedroom window and "saw nothing but red, just red and orange flashing. And just a crackling noise. I was like, 'What is that?' " he said.
Smith said he ran outside, saw a friend and eventually spotted a pilot who was "laying there" and bleeding. He said he and several others then picked up the pilot and carried him to safety. It wasn't immediately clear Friday whether the pilot was the same one that Kavanaugh assisted.
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