 PHOTOS RYAN MYERS/Monterey Hotshots |
By Kerri Ginis, Barbara Anderson and Denny Boyles
Fresno Bee (California)
Copyright 2006 McClatchy Newspapers, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
A Lemoore Navy pilot died and another ejected safely when two fighter jets crashed Monday during a routine training mission over a military base in south Monterey County.
The two single-seat F/A-18C Hornets crashed into the ground about 11:15 a.m., sparking two brush fires that burned several hundred acres at Fort Hunter Liggett, said Don Sundius, a spokesman for the Army base.
Initially, Navy officials reported the planes collided before hitting the ground, but later said they didn’t know how the crash occurred.
Officials said the surviving pilot is in good condition.
It’s not known if both pilots ejected, although early reports indicated there were two parachutes spotted on the ground.
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The Navy is expected to release the name of the deceased pilot today.
Both pilots were members of Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-125, nicknamed the “Rough Raiders” — a training squadron where new pilots learn to fly the Hornet.
The pilots were on an air-to-air intercept training mission, learning what to do when they approach an enemy or an enemy approaches them, Lemoore Naval Air Station spokesman Dennis McGrath said.
They were on their way back to the Lemoore base when the crash occurred.
Lemoore pilots occasionally train over the Fort Hunter Liggett base, which is about 60 miles flying distance from Lemoore and is in a remote, hilly area between King City and San Luis Obispo.
The Navy first heard about the crash from a civilian aviator who saw the burned wreckage.
Word soon reached the Lemoore base.
“Naval aviation is an inherently dangerous operation,” McGrath said. “These things occasionally happen and it’s sad.”
Jennifer McLaughlin, a wife of a Lemoore Navy pilot, said she still gets goosebumps whenever she hears about a crash involving one of the base squadrons.
“It just makes the hair on your arms stand on end,” she said.
“It’s something we try not to think about, but it’s really just a sad, surreal part of what the pilots do.”
By midafternoon, investigators from Lemoore headed to the crash site to determine the cause of the accident. By 7 p.m., smoke still drifted above the site.
The crash was the fourth involving Lemoore aviators in the past year. The last accident occurred in February off the coast of Key West, Fla., during a training mission.
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The pilot, who was also from VFA-125, escaped unharmed.
In January, Lt. Cmdr. Frank Carl Wittwer was killed after the single-seat F/A-18C Hornet he was flying crashed about five miles north of Naval Air Station El Centro during a training mission.
And last July, Lt. Bruce L. Clark, 31, of Orange Park, Fla., was killed after his jet collided with another jet while practicing air-to-air combat maneuvers at China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station near Ridgecrest in Kern County.
The Hornet is one of the front-line fighter jets of the Navy and Marines and is the nation’s first strike-fighter capable aircraft, meaning it can be used as a fighter jet or an attack plane to drop bombs.
Produced by Boeing, the Hornet is flown by the Navy’s elite Blue Angels aerobatic team and has been a staple of military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Navy put its updated version of the Hornet into flight in 2002 — the F/A-18 Super Hornet. Lemoore is the training ground for pilots flying the Hornet and Super Hornet.
The Hornet and Super Hornet carry the Navy’s best safety record, McGrath said.
But last year The Associated Press reported that a Lemoore air wing commander said brake problems affecting the F/A-18 Hornet pose “a severe hazard to Naval aviation” that could kill pilots and ruin the $30 million plane.
Gilbert Maxwell, 25, a Lemoore aviation machinist mate who works on the Super Hornet’s engines and fuel systems, said the Hornets flown by VFA-125 are older aircraft.
He works in VFA-122 — the Super Hornet training squadron.
He said he is curious to find out what caused Monday’s crash: “It just makes me want to do my job more closely because my job physically affects how the plane is flying.”
In the close-knit military community of Lemoore, many residents hadn’t heard about Monday’s crash, but immediately said they would be willing to help the families of the pilots involved.
“Everyone knows pretty much everyone around here,” said Angel Solis, 29, of Hanford after learning of the accident. “We want to show our support. We mourn for the families because we have families.”
Gabriel Linarez, whose family owns Beto’s Mexican Food in Lemoore, said as news spread about the crash it would cast a feeling of sadness over the community.
He said when a pilot is lost, people feel “it’s like losing one of their brothers.”