Posted on 09/15/2004 3:01:55 AM PDT by naturalman1975
A US fighter jet worth $40 million was "totalled" when it crashed during a training exercise at Australia's Tindal air base, the US Marine Corps said today.
US pilot Marine Corps Major George Pavey, 34, escaped uninjured after ejecting moments before the F/A-18 Hornet crashed into scrub in the Northern Territory yesterday afternoon.
The accident happened during routine training as part of the two-month Operation Southern Frontier, an annual joint training exercise between mainly Japan-based Marines and Australia.
"I believe it was totalled," Marine public affairs officer Captain Stewart Upton said by phone from Japan.
"We definitely take this very seriously."
Major Pavey was released from the base's hospital last night after a medical examination.
The US military is leading an investigation into the cause of the crash, which happened at the Tindal Royal Australian Air Force base, 320km south-east of Darwin.
"The mishap occurred during a routine portion of the flight," Capt Upton said.
Major Pavey was found about 10 minutes after ejecting in rough terrain, about 16km from the base, Capt Upton said.
He praised the quick Australian response to the crash, with the pilot being picked up by a military helicopter within half an hour of the incident.
"They just did a fabulous job, we couldn't be happier," he said.
"I'm just glad that he was safe and we all are, and we're also thankful for the assistance of the Australian air force and everything they did."
It is believed to be the first such incident during more than a decade of the annual training exercises.
About 300 US Marines, mainly from Japan's Iwakuni base, are training in the NT in Southern Frontier, which focuses on air to ground exercises.
The operation is conducted from the Tindal base, with training bomb strikes on the Delamere Air Weapons range, 130km south-west of Katherine.
The Federal Government announced in July the Delamere weapons range would become a joint Australian-US training facility, in conjunction with the Shoalwater Bay facility in Queensland, and Bradshaw in the NT.
Capt Upton said the exercises were extremely important, particularly in the world climate.
Exercise Southern Frontier is due to finish at the end of the week.
I hope he's alright
He won't get reamed unless he deserves it. I served on numerous accident investigations while I was a Flight Surgeon in the Air force. A board will be convened of pilots, maintence officers and medical officers from another unit, who will go over every fact they can get ahold of and try to determine cause. The pilot may well be held completely blameless.
You would be amazed at what they can establish from analysis of the wreckage, interviews with the crew and any other witnesses, things like ATC radar records etc etc.
Of course, any democrat will tell you that flying high performance fighter jet aircraft is a walk in the park and a suitable activity for "morons", especially in comparison to the hazards of grenade induced projectile rice puffs.
It's not time to worry yet - it's perfectly possible the pilot wasn't at fault, and if that's the case, the investigation will almost certainly show it is. If he's at fault, he's likely to have a pretty bad time, but they'll look at the evidence before making that determination.
glad to hear it - still makes for a crappy week though - wouldnt you agree?
Hey, he walked away from it. That's not too shabby.
$40 million... damn.
I guess maybe youre right
That would be Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni.
That’s my teacher, and as he would say, doing something like crashing a $40,000,000 plane is a big commoman. Lol
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