 NANCEE E. LEWIS / Union-Tribune Alfred Greenman (left) and Josh Rosenberg rescued two Navy aviators who had ejected from a crippled F-14D Tomcat fighter jet off the San Diego coast yesterday. |
Posted on 03/30/2004 5:31:34 PM PST by WSGilcrest
By James W. Crawley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 30, 2004
Josh Rosenberg and Alfred Greenman hardly notice the jets that roar overhead while they help train sea lions off the San Diego coast.
NANCEE E. LEWIS / Union-TribuneAlfred Greenman (left) and Josh Rosenberg rescued two Navy aviators who had ejected from a crippled F-14D Tomcat fighter jet off the San Diego coast yesterday.
Not until about 11 a.m. yesterday, when a "loud bang" interrupted their work and plunged them into the rescue of two Navy aviators who had ejected from their crippled F-14D Tomcat fighter.
Within minutes, the pair had fished the two crewmen – a pilot and a radar intercept officer – from the water.
The aviators, whom the Navy has not identified, suffered minor injuries, witnesses said. The aircraft and crew, based in Virginia, had taken off from the aircraft carrier Stennis, which is training off the Mexico coast.
Sometime after takeoff, the pilot reported problems with one of the jet's two engines and was ordered to land at North Island Naval Air Station, Navy spokesman Cmdr. Ed Buclatin said. An investigation is under way into why the jet never reached the Coronado airfield.
Rosenberg and Greenman, employees of Science Applications International Corp. who work for the Space and Naval Warfare Command's marine mammal program, were finishing a training session with several sea lions when the accident occurred.
While another boat carried the sea lions back to a Navy research center on San Diego Bay, Rosenberg and Greenman were hauling in the first of several underwater targets used to train the animals, which can be used to guard bases and seek out mines and enemy divers.
"The bang made us look up," Rosenberg said.
Above them, two parachutes blossomed, tiny figures hanging below, drifting toward the water.
The gray Navy fighter roared as it passed overhead. No flames or debris were visible as the jet descended in nearly level flight. Maybe a minute later, Rosenberg estimated, the jet glided into the Pacific, about two miles west of Point Loma.
"We saw a plume of water but we didn't see any flames," he said.
An amateur video showed the jet skip along the surface before splashing to a stop and sinking in about 150 feet of water. The Coast Guard has banned boats from the crash site. The Navy could salvage the jet, which contains classified equipment.
Rosenberg and Greenman turned their small boat around and headed toward the jet's crewmen, who hit the water about 1½ miles away. Rosenberg reported the crash to the Coast Guard and Navy on the boat's marine-band radio.
"My adrenaline was flowing," he said.
It took 10 minutes to locate the aviators, who were floating in their inflation vests, their parachutes nearby in the water.
Rosenberg grabbed one of the men by the wrist and hauled him aboard. Then, Greenman lifted the second crewman over the gunwale.
On board the 25-foot boat, the aviators squirmed out of their waterlogged flight harnesses and survival gear. "They were good-natured about it," Rosenberg said.
The aviators told Rosenberg and Greenman they were flying at 2,500 feet when they ejected.
As the boat carrying the pilots headed toward shore, a Navy Seahawk helicopter arrived and hovered over the scene. Meanwhile, a Border Patrol boat, several San Diego City Lifeguard vessels and Coast Guard personnel were headed toward the location.
Before the fighter's crewmen were dropped off near a waiting ambulance at North Island, they were met offshore by a Border Patrol boat carrying a medic.
The fliers were in remarkably good shape, said Jeremy Thompson, a Border Patrol senior patrol agent and emergency medical technician who examined the pair.
Both were alert, but sore from some bumps and bruises, he said.
"I expected (they would have) head trauma and neck trauma," said Thompson, who examined the officers before they got ashore. "They were in great shape considering what happened."
The crewmen were later examined at the North Island medical clinic, Buclatin said.
The jet carried no live weapons but Buclatin warned beachgoers to stay away from debris that may wash ashore. Debris should be reported to the Navy at (619) 545-2017.
Yesterday's incident was the third Navy fighter crash in a week.
An F/A-18A Hornet crashed yesterday near Chattanooga, Tenn. The pilot, a Naval reservist, ejected safely. Wednesday, an F/A-18C Hornet crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. The pilot survived.
The San Diego rescuerssaid yesterday's incident was memorable. Rosenberg said he probably won't fully realize the day's events until later.
"It's not something we expected to be doing," Rosenberg said. "We're glad we were in the right place and the right time."
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