Navy F/A-18 Hornet down in Virginia Beach

The Kid

Just caught word that a Navy fighter went down in Virginia Beach, I know they did all they could to keep the Jet from injuring others. My prayers to all who have been affected. I did hear that the Pilot and Navigator ejected and are safe.

jj20030

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17640618 A US Navy F-18 jet has crashed in what appears to be a residential neighbourhood near Virginia Beach, Virginia, local media say.

Jetmech_63

Bird was a 2 seater, student in front and instructor in the back from VFA-106, the east coast training squadron. From the tail section it looks like a F/A-18C. One of the "reports" said the pilot was found alive but still strapped to his ejection seat. If he ejected and the was still strapped to the seat and didnt seperate from it, the seat failed and he's lucky to be alive. Something we'll no doubt be hearing about at work on monday...

skweekz

I read both pilots are fine but have minor injuries. No reports of civilian injuries or casualties. So says yahoo anyways.

Roberto99

skweekz:

I read both pilots are fine but have minor injuries. No reports of civilian injuries or casualties. So says yahoo anyways.

Wow, glad to hear everyone will be ok! Used to live in that area and watch the jets fly by.

zoom6zoom

Yes, no reports of major injuries on the ground, but three apartment buildings are mostly collapsed and two others heavily damaged. It was around lunchtime on a day when the kids are out of school. They haven't been able to search all those areas yet. I'll hope for the best, but it will be a true miracle if there aren't some fatalities.

http://i747.photobucket.com/albums/xx113/rhinowso/Military/Picture3.png

Jiffy78

This Jet was from VFA-106. It was my first command in the Navy. It is a training (rag) squadron. Still no word about the survivors, but my wife's friend lives across the street and said that it just obliterated that building. I really hope noone was killed.

The Kid

I have read that the flight crew dumped the fuel before ejecting. This act undoubtedly saved countless lives, as I also have read that the aircraft had just become airborne when this event occurred.
In 1988 while stationed in Germany I witnessed one of the worst Air Show disasters ever. These planes too were loaded with fuel and the scene is one that today still brings tears to my eyes,not only for the victims but for the emergency personnel that have to triage such disasters..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIRYhoC2gZg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHD0ifsnpVc

Medic45

My Family's prayers are with the crew and civilians.

zoom6zoom

So far no reports of any serious injuries on the ground. If this holds, it's an amazing happening. Those pilots kept this under control all the way down, punching out at the last second, reportedly only 100 feet from the scene of the impact. And the pilots first question upon regaining consciousness was if everyone on the ground was OK.

Proud to be Navy!

Toombes

We had a bird go down when I was stationed at VFA-125, jetmech knows the squadron. I was part of the recovery team. Luckily, both the student and instructor were able to eject safely and the plane went down in the mountains. I know what it looked like then in the wilderness, I don't even want to imagine what the destruction would be like in a residential area. Having recently worked recovery in a tornado stricken town close to where I live I can only assume something similar, but on a smaller scale. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved in this event.

clearlysuspect

You know what's really weird for me? Of all the years I've been working on aircraft, I always thought the "Fuel Dump" was to remove and cut off fuel from an engine that had caught fire. It never even dawned on me that it was to eliminate a massive fire ball on the ground when the plane crashes.

I'm very sad for this community but incredibly happy that no one was seriously injured! I spent several months at NAS Oceana while I attended my "C" school at NAMTRAU. I'm pretty familiar with "the Mews" apartments and had some buddies who lived there years ago. I remember my barracks, which was located directly under the take off pattern used to shake and rattle when the F-18's and, especially, the F-14's took off. It was so loud when they came over-head you couldn't hear the person next to you screaming in your ear! I can't imagine what it must have been like for the people in those apartments to experience the aircraft coming into the building rather than over it!