
DATE: Monday, September 15, 1997            TAG: 9709150058

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY RAJU CHEBIUM, ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: MIDDLE RIVER, MD.                 LENGTH:   89 lines

STEALTH JET SLAMS INTO HOMES 7 INJURED, INCLUDING THE PILOT F-117A TOOK OFF FROM LANGLEY PLANES ON LOAN FOR AIR SHOWS

An F-117A stealth fighter broke apart during an air show performance and crashed into two homes Sunday, setting both on fire and causing minor injuries to six civilians on the ground.

The pilot, identified as Capt. Bryan Knight, ejected and was taken to Andrews Air Force Base for back and neck injuries.

The Air Force said the F-117A had taken off from Langley Air Force Base, in Hampton, and was to return after flying by the air show.

The aircraft, assigned to the 7th Fighter Squadron, 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., was one of two F-117As loaned to Langley to support air shows along the East Coast, the Air Force said.

The crash happened about 3 p.m. as the jet made its final passes during the Chesapeake Air Show at the Glen Martin State Airport.

Several people said they saw parts of the plane break off just before it went down. Home video of the crash showed a piece of the aircraft that appeared to be from the tail section flying off before the jet went into a slow, flat spin and crashed.

``Some people were saying it was part of the show,'' said Rudy Medina, who was at the air show. ``But I knew it wasn't part of the show. No aircraft of that caliber disintegrates in midair like that.''

The plane, carrying 11,000 pounds of fuel, went down about a mile from the airport, into two homes and two cars at a condo-marina complex on Chesapeake Bay in this suburb northeast of Baltimore.

Baltimore County Fire Capt. Steve Gisriel said six people at the complex suffered only minor injuries and were not hospitalized. Among them was an elderly woman who escaped her home seconds after the plane slammed into her garage.

Witness Kimberly Chaapel said she noticed that ``part of the wing fell off'' before the plane went down and the pilot ejected.

``He started rolling head over tail and (the pilot) ejected probably 500 feet before the ground,'' she told CNN. ``He was very, very lucky.''

Andy Kunkowski said he was watching the show from a small boat near the shoreline, and immediately went to the crash scene and spoke to the pilot after he parachuted to the ground.

``He said he was truly sorry about what had happened and said he tried to pull it out,'' Kunkowski said. ``He wanted to land this thing in the water, but couldn't.''

Fire Capt. Gisriel said that the fire was under control about an hour after the crash and that a three-block area of the neighborhood was evacuated for military officials to conduct their investigation. Military police were brought in to help guard the area.

``It is a secret aircraft; obviously we want to protect it the best way we can,'' said Capt. Drew Sullins, a Maryland National Guard spokesman.

Sullins said he was not aware of any communications between the pilot and the control tower at the airport, but said the aircraft's black box had been recovered.

The boomerang-shaped F-117A Nighthawk, armed with laser-guided bombs, was used in the Gulf War against the most heavily defended Iraqi targets because of its ability to evade radar and radar-guided missiles. According to an Air Force fact sheet, each F-117 costs $45 million.

Stealth technology uses curved or angular surfaces to reduce that radar reflection - known as a cross section. When combined with radar-absorbing composite materials, a plane with a 43-foot wingspan displays the cross section of a bumblebee.

Air Force spokeswoman Capt. Keri Humphrey said three Stealth fighters have been destroyed in crashes since the F-117A was put into service in 1990. The only fatality occurred on a night training flight in 1995 in New Mexico.

Before the planes were in official service, there had been at least three other crashes of the once super-secret planes - one when Lockheed was testing the jet, and fatal wrecks in California and Nevada in 1986 and 1987, respectively. ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

ASSOCIATED PRESS photos

A section of an F-117A stealth fighter comes off the jet, top left

photo, as it flies above Middle River, Md. The fighter then went

into a spin and crashed into two homes, setting both afire. The

pilot, Capt. Bryan Knight, ejected to safety, shown just left of the

smoke in the photo at top right. He was taken to Andrews Air Force

Base for evaluation.

Map KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT PLANE MILITARY PLANE F-117A STEALTH

FIGHTER AIR SHOW