DATE: Friday, October 3, 1997               TAG: 9710030662

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY EARL SWIFT, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   82 lines

F-14 PILOT MISSING IN CRASH OFF COAST COAST GUARD RESCUES RADAR OFFICER AFTER BOTH CREWMEN EJECT IN CHOPPER WATERS

A Virginia Beach-based F-14 Tomcat fighter jet crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the North Carolina coast Thursday afternoon, moments after its two-man crew ejected.

A Coast Guard helicopter later plucked the Tomcat's radar intercept officer from 4- to 5-foot seas, but rescuers were still searching for the jet's pilot after nightfall.

The Navy declined to identify either of the crewmen, who were flying a jet assigned to Fighter Squadron 101 at Oceana Naval Air Station, until their families were notified.

The radar intercept officer was undergoing a medical examination at Oceana Thursday night, and was reportedly in good condition, a Coast Guard spokesman said.

But three Navy ships and five Navy and Coast Guard aircraft remained at the crash site about 65 miles east of Elizabeth City, searching the Atlantic's choppy waters for the Tomcat's pilot.

Spokesmen for the Atlantic Fleet's Naval Air Forces said the F-14 was on a routine training mission with three other aircraft about 4 p.m. when the crash occurred, and that aviators in at least one of the other planes witnessed it.

The Navy had few details about the events preceding the accident, and no idea as to why it happened - except that the crash did not involve a midair collision.

``Two people ejected out of the aircraft,'' spokesman Mike Maus said. ``We do not know why at this time.''

Standard operating procedure called for the crews of the other planes to plot the accident's position and radio the data to authorities on shore, Maus said. They normally would remain at the scene for as long as their fuel allowed, he added. He said he did not know how long the other aircraft remained overhead Thursday, however.

The accident was the seventh involving military aircraft since mid-September, when a spate of crashes within a week prompted Defense Secretary William Cohen to declare one-day stand-downs on training flights in each branch of the military to give air and ground crews time to review safety procedures.

The series of crashes started when an Air Force C-141 Starlifter cargo jet crashed off the coast of West Africa. A midair collision with a German airplane was suspected.

The next day, two fighters went down, including one with local connnections.

The first claimed the life of a Navy F/A-18 Hornet pilot. The Florida-based jet was flying from the Mayport, Fla.-based carrier John F. Kennedy when it crashed during a training exercise in Oman.

Perhaps the most spectacular crash involved a plane temporarily assigned to Hampton Roads. An Air Force F-117 stealth fighter broke apart in midair during a Maryland air show. Based at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, the batwinged stealth jet was making a circuit of air show appearances from Langley Air Force Base in Hampton.

Despite crowds and homes below, the crash caused only minor injuries on the ground and spared the pilot, who ejected safely.

In quick succession, a Marine Corps F/A-18 from Beaufort, S.C., crashed in the Pamlico Sound near North Carolina's Outer Banks. Both crew members aboard died. Then two Air Force F-16s collided off the coast of New Jersey. No one was killed in that accident, though a pilot had to be rescued from the Atlantic Ocean.

And, finally, an Air Force B-1 Lancer bomber crashed in Montana, killing four.

Fighter Squadron 101 is the fleet replacement, or training, squadron at Oceana, and completed its safety stand-down Sept. 18, the day after Cohen issued his order.

The accident comes just two days after the Navy completed its safest-ever year for flying: During the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, Maus said, the Navy posted a crash rate of 1.36 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours.

The Navy will conduct an investigation into the cause of the crash, Maus said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

STAFF/File photo

An Oceana-based F-14 Tomcat...

Map KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT MILITARY ACCIDENT PLANE

U.S. OCEANA NAVAL AIR STATION MISSING PERSONS

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu