Airplane Accidents Navy U S

In the worst naval air crash in decades, 27 crew members are believed to have died in the midair collision of two Navy P-3 Orion anti-submarine planes during a training mission Thursday off the San Diego coast. The crash occurred 60 miles southwest of San Diego at 2:30 a.m. as a storm pounded the area, Navy officials said. Search-and-rescue workers discovered wreckage from the downed planes but as of late Thursday they had not found any bodies in the heavy seas.

Two men killed when a leased cargo plane crashed at Edwards Air Force Base on Monday have been identified as Navy Lt. David Garnett, 33, of Houston and Navy Aviation Electrician E-3 Lorenzo Rodriguez, 24, of San Antonio. The MU-2 aircraft was on a flight from the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake, where both men were stationed, to Edwards, where it crashed short of the runway on landing.

A Navy pilot making his first landing attempt on an aircraft carrier was "low and slow" before his training jet crashed on the Lexington, killing him and four others, the ship's captain said Monday. The T-2 Buckeye slammed into the ship's island, cartwheeled across the deck and exploded in flames Sunday afternoon, Capt. C. Flack Logan said. Nineteen other people were injured. The pilot, Ens. Steven E. Pontell, 23, of Columbia, Md., was the only one aboard the two-seat trainer.

Two men killed when a leased cargo plane crashed at Edwards Air Force Base on Monday were identified Tuesday as Navy Lt. David Garnett, 33, of Houston and Navy Aviation Electrician E-3 Lorenzo Rodriguez, 24, of San Antonio. The MU-2 aircraft was on a flight from the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake, where both men were stationed, to Edwards, where it crashed short of the runway on landing.

A Navy flier died Tuesday of injuries suffered when he and another aviator ejected from their disabled jet over downtown El Cajon just moments before it crashed upside down at a civilian airfield Monday. Lt. (j.g.) Randy L. Furtado, 27, the radar intercept officer on the F-14A Tomcat, apparently died of a broken neck at 1 p.m. Tuesday, a Navy spokesman said. The pilot, Lt. Cmdr.

A Navy F-14A fighter jet, abandoned by its crew over downtown El Cajon, crashed upside-down into two hangars at a civilian airfield here Monday morning, seriously injuring three people on the ground and reducing a number of small airplanes and cars to scorched rubble. The pilots were attempting to return to their home base at Miramar Naval Air Station after developing mechanical trouble while over the Pacific on a routine training run, said Lt. David Wray, a Navy spokesman.

Even as Navy search teams scoured ocean waters Friday for signs of survivors and debris from the midair collision of two of its planes, officials released the names of 19 of the 27 crew members presumed killed in the worst naval accident in decades. The remaining eight names are expected to be released today, once relatives are notified. Word of the deaths shattered families around the country.

A pregnant mother died Friday of burns inflicted when a fighter jet crashed into a suburban apartment complex. Earlier in the day, searchers found a man's body in the wreckage of his incinerated apartment. Navy investigators, meanwhile, continued hunting through the debris for clues to Thursday evening's crash, but said they did not know what caused the accident.

Officials from Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station released the identities Thursday of two Navy pilots who died after their small plane crashed this week near Lake Hughes in the Angeles National Forest. Lt. Kent M. Kiepe, 29, of South Festus, Mo., and Lt.(j.g.) Craig R. Melton, 24, of Lake Latawana, Mo., were en route Wednesday to the China Lake Naval Weapons Center, about 70 miles northeast of Bakersfield, when they reported engine trouble, Navy officials said.

A Navy FA-18 Hornet crashed Wednesday in rocky terrain nine miles east of Independence, but the pilot ejected safely and suffered only minor injuries. The fighter, based at Lemoore Naval Air Station, was participating in a training flight over the Owens Valley and was carrying no ordnance when it went down, said Dennis McGrath, a Lemoore spokesman. The pilot's name was not immediately available. McGrath said the cause of the accident was under investigation.

Two people were killed and seven injured when an executive-type turbo-prop plane leased by the Navy crashed Monday at Edwards Air Force Base, the Navy said. Details of the crash, including the names of the victims, were not made public. The plane had taken off from the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake and headed to Edwards, where it crashed at 12:30 p.m., said Cathy Partusch, public affairs officer at the naval station.

Officials from Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station released the identities Thursday of two Navy pilots who died after their small plane crashed this week near Lake Hughes in the Angeles National Forest. Lt. Kent M. Kiepe, 29, of South Festus, Mo., and Lt.(j.g.) Craig R. Melton, 24, of Lake Latawana, Mo., were en route Wednesday to the China Lake Naval Weapons Center, about 70 miles northeast of Bakersfield, when they reported engine trouble, Navy officials said.

A plane leased by a Navy base on the Ventura County coast crashed Wednesday near Lake Hughes in Angeles National Forest, killing two Navy fliers. The pilot and a lone passenger were not identified pending notification of relatives, said officials at the Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station. Just before the 8:50 a.m.

A search was called off Thursday for a Navy flier missing after the jet he was flying crashed in the Pacific Ocean about 70 miles south of San Clemente Island, authorities said. Navy officials said the search for Lt. Richard B. Bridges Jr. was abandoned at 6 p.m. Bridges, 28, and Lt. Todd M. Odegaard, 26, were aboard an S-3 Viking twin-engine jet when it ditched in the ocean Wednesday.

A Navy FA-18 Hornet crashed Wednesday in rocky terrain nine miles east of Independence, but the pilot ejected safely and suffered only minor injuries. The fighter, based at Lemoore Naval Air Station, was participating in a training flight over the Owens Valley and was carrying no ordnance when it went down, said Dennis McGrath, a Lemoore spokesman. The pilot's name was not immediately available. McGrath said the cause of the accident was under investigation.

An A-6E Intruder attack jet was destroyed Friday when it crashed while landing on the aircraft carrier Ranger off the coast of San Diego. The pilot and navigator, who were not identified, ejected and landed on the carrier's flight deck, the Navy said. Both were said to be in good condition. According to the Navy, the A-6E plowed into three Marine F/A-18 Hornets that were on the flight deck. No injuries were reported. The time of the incident was not disclosed.

The search for four Navy airmen aboard a jet that disappeared on a training mission over the Pacific was called off after no sign of survivors was found, a Navy spokesman said in San Diego. The missing EA-6B Prowler, a twin-engine aircraft used to jam enemy electronic messages, was reported overdue Monday morning while conducting training exercises about 900 miles off the San Diego coast. "Search and rescue operations to locate the missing crew members terminated at approximately 5:30 p.m."

An F-14 fighter operating from the carrier Abraham Lincoln has gone down in the Indian Ocean, a Navy spokeswoman said Monday. It was the second such loss in as many weeks. The latest incident occurred at 4:15 p.m. Sunday, when the two-man crew experienced problems controlling the aircraft and were forced to eject, Chief Petty Officer Bobbie Carleton said. The airmen were rescued by a helicopter from the Lincoln, but Navy officials did not say whether the men suffered any injuries.

Five World War II-era Navy planes found off the Florida coast are not the Lost Squadron, and the mix-up will only reinforce the myth of the Bermuda Triangle, baffled explorers said Tuesday. Graham Hawkes, leader of a team aboard the high-tech treasure-hunting ship Deep See, said more detailed examination of the Navy Avengers spotted last month by a remote camera showed that they are not the planes of Flight 19, which vanished on Dec. 5, 1945.