THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 24, 1994 TAG: 9407240055
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER AND JOE JACKSON, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
One Navy pilot died and a second was listed in stable condition Saturday after their training jet crashed into a wooded area several hundred yards beyond an Oceana Naval Air Station runway.
The pilots were returning to their Mississippi base after a training mission here when their two-seat T-2 Buckeye developed problems and crashed at 1:55 p.m., shortly after it became airborne, Navy spokesman Cmdr. Kevin Wensing said.
Both pilots - an instructor and a student who had earlier practiced carrier landings - were taken to the trauma center at Virginia Beach General Hospital, where one died at 6:14 p.m. Their names were not released.
The surviving pilot was conscious when crews reached the scene, Wensing said. The other pilot apparently never regained consciousness, rescue workers said.
Wensing said the pilots were found a short distance from the wreckage.
A man watching planes land and take off at the base said the jet reached an altitude of only about 500 feet before veering west, away from the runway, then back toward the runway before crashing in a wooded area.
``The exhaust was coming out redder than normal,'' recalled Mike McKellop, 34, of Charlotte, who is visiting relatives in Virginia Beach. ``It looked to me like fire was coming out more intensely than it should.''
The wreckage was found several hundred yards off the end of Runway 23, Wensing said. That runway is about 600 yards from London Bridge Road.
The plane exploded on impact and was destroyed. Navy investigators were looking through the debris at the crash scene Saturday.
The pilots were returning to their training squadron at Meridian Naval Air Station in Mississippi. They had been conducting carrier-qualification flights off the East Coast last week aboard the Norfolk-based carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, in preparation for the ship's deployment this fall.
The Navy asked Virginia Beach police to close sections of London Bridge and Potters roads after the crash, but the streets were blocked for only 20 minutes.
McKellop was parked near Southern and Oceana boulevards, near the base's northwest corner, when he saw the crash. He first noticed the jet on a taxiway. Shortly after, he saw a transport plane land, pull off the runway and taxi back toward the aircraft hangars.
The white-and-orange trainer then taxied into position and ``the engines revved up,'' McKellop said. He glanced away for a second, ``then when I looked back I saw what appeared to be vapor trails that normally follow behind the plane.''
But McKellop, who said he is an aviation enthusiast, was puzzled by the pattern of the trails - up and down in a ribbon effect that is more common, he said, when a plane is landing.
``The fire was becoming even more intense, and it looked like the pilot was going to try to put down on a parallel runway,'' McKellop said.
``He drifted off to the right, then turned back to the left towards (his) original runway. It was obvious the plane was going down.''
He saw a ball of flame upon impact and a cloud of black smoke. A warning siren sounded at the base and emergency vehicles immediately headed toward the crash site.
McKellop, who was about two miles from the site, said he did not see the pilots eject.
Wensing said investigators will gather the debris and try to figure out what happened.
They will also interview the surviving pilot, witnesses, and the crews that worked on the plane before it took off. He said it could take as long as several weeks before any reason is released. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MIKE MCKELLOP
Map
Photo
It could take several weeks before a crash report is released, Cmdr.
Kevin Wensing, above, said at Oceana on Saturday.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT PLANE ACCIDENT MILITARY
FATALITY INJURY by CNB