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April 06, 2012

US Navy F-18 jet crashes into Virginia apartment building

A US Navy fighter jet slammed into an apartment complex in Virginia yesterday, bursting into flames and destroying several buildings.


F-18 crash in Virginia

A US Navy fighter jet has crashed into an apartment building in Virginia


Firefighters work to control the blaze after the crash of an F-18 navy jet into an apartment building in Virginia Beach


The two pilots ejected but their condition is not known 


At least one person was injured on the ground 

Both pilots safely ejected from the F-18 before it crashed in Virginia Beach, a tourist resort south of Washington DC, and no deaths were reported on the ground despite the scale of the inferno.

The aircraft destroyed at least two buildings and damaged several others before it came to rest in a courtyard, where its twin engines remained visible through the thick smoke and flame.

The jet was on a training flight and was flown by a student pilot with an experienced instructor in the rear seat, a Navy spokesman said. Moments after take off it suffered a "catastrophic technical malfunction" and went down in the Mayfair Mews complex.


One witness told CNN: "I saw this huge plume black smoke and as we came up on the scene there were fireballs and ambulances coming from everywhere.

"Through the smoke you could see the end on the plane just sitting in the courtyard and buildings starting to collapse."

One pilot was found by residents at the scene still strapped into his ejector seat, suggesting that he remained at the controls of the F-18 until the last possible moment before bailing out.

Pat Kavanugh, a retired rescue worker who was the among first to reach the stranded aviator, said: "He apologised very much for hitting out complex and I told him: ‘Don’t worry about it, everything’s going to be fine’.

"I checked him over, did a body survey, he was in shock, still strapped to his seat so we picked him up, dragged him to the other side of the parking lot away from the fire."

The US Navy confirmed that the aircraft belonged to the VFA-106 strike fighter squadron based at the Oceana Naval Air Station, a base around two miles from the scene.

Pilots are trained to try to move away from populated areas if their aircraft is going down and it is believed the crew were trying to reach the ocean in the moments before they hit the ground.

Bob McDonnell, the governor of Virginia, said: “Our fervent prayer is that no one was injured or killed in this accident.”

8 comments:

  1. Surprised the building didn't collapse in a straight free fall.

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  2. Give this F-18 to the Jews at a reduced price.

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  3. I'm surprised that this doesn't happen more often in dense urban areas.

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  4. how come the buildings are still standing and there has been no freefall like what happened to the twin towers?????????

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  5. Will the owners of the trashed buildings and everyone affected be quickly compensated? I mean, come on! This is pretty disruptive to one's life.

    The U.S. government at its finest, huh?

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  6. I thought when planes hit buildings the vaporized like at the pentagon hmmm

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  7. well obviously this brick and mortar structure are far superior materials to use than measly ole steel.

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  8. Just stunned the buildings are still standing. How in the world? I mean, the two 110-story, steel-reinforced twin towers - built to withstand multiple hits by 707's - apparently reduced to pulverized concrete and steel in a matter of just about an hour. Yet, here's a jet fighter plowing into wooden apartments and - voila - no free falling buildings or pulverized wood. Amazing. I'm sure there's a positively simple explanation for this amazing phenomenon.

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