CSM: Virginia Beach Navy jet crash: what is known so far
From The Christian Science Monitor:
[div class="excerpt" style="border-left: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-top: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-right: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius: 0.3077em 0.3077em 0em 0em; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px #bfbfbf;"]Virginia Beach Navy jet crash: what is known so far[div class="excerpt" style="border-left: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-bottom: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-right: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius: 0em 0em 0.3077em 0.3077em; background-color: #f4f4f4; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px #bfbfbf;"]In the first hours after a US Navy jet crashed into an apartment complex in Virginia Beach, Va., Friday, major questions remain about the cause and the eventual cost.
The Navy’s initial report says the jet had just taken off from the Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach before it crashed. Three buildings were destroyed, and two more had significant damage, according to Virginia Beach fire department officials. Early reports credited the pilot with averting greater destruction and possible loss of life.
“There’s nowhere he could have touched down in a safe way,” George Pilkington, who lives near the crash site, told CNN. “That it didn’t cause more damage to surrounding apartments is definitely a blessing.”
Mr. Pilkington said he saw the aircraft flying at an unusually low level, its nose cocked upwards, and spewing fuel. That suggests a mechanical malfunction and the pilot’s effort to dump fuel in order to reach the airfield. “By doing so, he mitigated what could have been an absolute massive, massive fireball and fire," Bruce Nedelka, the Virginia Beach Emergency Medical Services division chief, told the Associated Press. "With all of that jet fuel dumped, it was much less than what it could have been."
Much more at the link!
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