Airplane Accidents Marine Corps U S

A few weeks after his fighter jet smashed into the ground in a crowd-silencing crash before 350,000 horrified onlookers at the El Toro Air Show, Marine Corps pilot Col. Jerry Cadick weakly whispered to those around his hospital bed that one day he would fly again. Everyone nodded sympathetically, but few believed that it would happen. The crash at the air show in April, 1988, crushed Cadick's face, broke his neck in three places and shattered five ribs.

In the second accident in little more than a year, a V-22 Osprey crashed Monday as it approached an airfield at the Marine Corps base at Quantico, Va., where it was to undergo flight tests with Marines aboard. The accident casts further doubt on the fate of the hybrid aircraft that has been the object of endless wrangling between Congress and the Defense Department. Marine Corps officials said that the aircraft carried seven people, including several Marines. All were presumed dead.

In the second accident in little more than a year, a V-22 Osprey crashed Monday as it approached an airfield at the Marine Corps base at Quantico, Va., where it was to undergo flight tests with Marines aboard. The accident casts further doubt on the fate of the hybrid aircraft that has been the object of endless wrangling between Congress and the Defense Department. Marine Corps officials said that the aircraft carried seven people, including several Marines. All were presumed dead.

A Marine Corps co-pilot based at the El Toro air station has been found dead after a crash in Malaysia. The dead man was identified Sunday as 1st Lt. James B. Kelly, originally of Paris, Ill. A Royal Malaysian Air Force rescue team found Kelly strapped to his seat about 50 yards from the plane wreckage Saturday, said Abdul Majid Hamid, deputy officer in charge at the town of Kota Tinggi near the crash site.

A U.S. Marine Corps jet crashed at Maxwell Air Force Base on Saturday, but the pilot escaped serious injury by ejecting, an official said. The pilot was the only person aboard the AV-8 Harrier, also known as a "jump jet" because of its ability to take off and land vertically, base spokeswoman Darlene Cowsert said. The pilot, whose name was not disclosed, was listed in good condition at Air University Regional Hospital, where he was taken after the crash.

The Harbor Patrol recovered a floating landing gear assembly that broke off a Yuma, Ariz.-based military jet aircraft while it was apparently operating over the Pacific Ocean, the Sheriff's Department said Saturday. The wheel assembly, the center of the intricate landing gear of an AV-8 Harrier jet fighter, was found floating in the ocean about 1 1/4 miles southwest of Newport Harbor, said Sgt. John K. Holani of the Sheriff's Department Harbor Patrol.

A U.S. Marine Corps observation plane with two crew members aboard disappeared on a practice run over the Southern California desert Thursday, prompting a search that failed to turn up any sign of the aircraft by late Friday. The OV-10A Bronco left Camp Pendleton at 11:30 a.m. Thursday and was due back three hours later, said 1st Lt. G.C. Browne, spokesman for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing headquartered in El Toro.

A Marine reconnaissance aircraft on a routine mission out of Camp Pendleton crashed in the desert near Palm Springs, killing the pilot and a crew member, Marine officials said. Names of the two Marines killed were withheld until family members are notified. The plane, an OV-10 Bronco, is a multipurpose two-seater plane used primarily for reconnaissance, including artillery and naval gunfire fire control. The two-engine propeller-driven plane is built by Rockwell International.

The burned wreckage of a military reconnaissance plane and the bodies of its two Marine pilots were discovered near the base of San Gorgonio Mountain in the San Bernardino National Forest. The remains of Marine Capt. Sergio R. Vivaldi, 29, of Port Chester, N.Y., and Lt. Joel H. Piehl, 31, of Bismark, N.D., were found near the wreckage, a Marine spokesman said.

A U.S. Marine pilot escaped injury after ejecting from his AV8B Harrier jet before it crashed over the Chocolate Mountains bombing range, officials said. The pilot, whose name was not released, was not hurt, but the jet was destroyed when it crashed east of El Centro Friday, said Sgt. Mark Walker, a spokesman for the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Ariz. The pilot and plane were attached to Marine Attack Squadron 311, which is stationed at the base.

A few weeks after his fighter jet smashed into the ground in a crowd-silencing crash before 350,000 horrified onlookers at the El Toro Air Show, Marine Corps pilot Col. Jerry Cadick weakly whispered to those around his hospital bed that one day he would fly again. Everyone nodded sympathetically, but few believed that it would happen. The crash at the air show in April, 1988, crushed Cadick's face, broke his neck in three places and shattered five ribs.

A Marine pilot safely ejected from a Harrier AV-8B fighter plane, the so-called "jump jet," before it crashed at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, officials said. The pilot, who was not identified, was in good condition at the base hospital after the Monday crash, said Lt. Ron Sharp, a base spokesman. Sharp said the pilot radioed the base that he was ejecting from the plane. A search-and-rescue team picked him up 15 minutes later.

Rescue teams searched unsuccessfully Wednesday for the pilot of a Marine Corps F/A-18A Hornet that crashed in the ocean Tuesday night while on a routine training exercise near San Clemente Island, military officials said. Navy and Coast Guard search-and-rescue teams on Wednesday combed more than 480 square miles of ocean between San Clemente and Santa Catalina islands for the single-seat jet aircraft and its pilot, Marine Lt. Mark J. Gelgean, 27, of Hanford, Calif.

Two crew members ejected safely from their Marine Corps photo reconnaissance jet Wednesday before it crashed at sea off San Diego during a training mission. The crash, which took place at about 3:20 p.m., is under investigation, Master Sgt. Steven Merrill said. The jet had taken off from its El Toro base earlier in the afternoon. One crew member was identified as Capt. T. P. Hewitt, a reconnaissance systems operator. The pilot's name was withheld pending notification of kin, Merrill said.

Two crew members ejected safely from their Marine Corps photo reconnaissance jet Wednesday before it crashed off the San Diego coast during a routine training mission. The crash, which took place about 3:20 p.m., is under investigation, Master Sgt. Steven Merrill said. The jet had taken off from El Toro earlier in the afternoon. One crew member was identified as Capt. T.P. Hewitt, a reconnaissance systems operator. The pilot's name was withheld pending notification of the next of kin, he said.

A jet pilot was killed and an aerial observer was injured in separate training exercise accidents involving Marine Corps aircraft, military officials said. The pilot of a single-seat Marine AV-8B Harrier attack plane ejected before it crashed in a remote northern area of the Marine base at Twentynine Palms in the Mojave Desert, officials said. The pilot, whose name was withheld, was pronounced dead at the base hospital.

The Harbor Patrol recovered a floating landing gear assembly that broke off a Yuma, Ariz.-based military jet aircraft while it was apparently operating over the Pacific Ocean, the Sheriff's Department said Saturday. The wheel assembly, the center of the intricate landing gear of an AV-8 Harrier jet fighter, was found floating in the ocean about 1 1/4 miles southwest of Newport Harbor, said Sgt. John K. Holani of the Sheriff's Department Harbor Patrol.