Posted on 09/21/2005 9:38:51 AM PDT by OXENinFLA
POSTED: 12:19 pm EDT September 21, 2005
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Firefighters are responding to reports that a Navy jet has gone down just west of Naval Air Station Jacksonville.
According to Jacksonville Fire-Rescue, the plane, believed to be an S-3 Viking jet, went down in a lumber yard in the 6500 block of Roosevelt Boulevard. The plane was on fire, which was put out.
The Navy told the local station that two parachutes were seen before the crash and a search is under way for the pilot and co-pilot.
All three of the Navy's East Coast squadrons of Vikings are based at NAS Jacksonville.
Sounds like the pilots got out ok.
Amazing the fire was put out quickly, if the plane crashed in a lumberyard.
Navy air dittos!!!!!!!!!
Navy air dittos!!!!!!!!!
ping
Hopefuly no crew in the back...
I'm not sure if that lumba yard is stocked w/ wood yet, it was just built..
Hope they are ok. I spent almost 3 years stationed on the USCGC Sweetgum in Mayport. Loved to watch the touch and goes.
Prayers for the pilots.
This is 3 miles from my house. I used to fly these planes, but out of Cecil not Jax. The plane went down at the end of the runway just shy of highway 17.
Word is two chutes (unknown if 2, 3 or 4 onboard. Most fly with 2 now. VS-32 Mauler aircraft.
Don't forget the two guys in the back.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
According to Jacksonville Fire-Rescue, the jet went down in woods near the Westside Regional Park in the 6500 block of Roosevelt Boulevard.
"There was a large flash, like lightning, only brighter. Then we heard a big 'kaboom,'" witness Donna Wells told Channel 4 in a special report just before 1 p.m. "Just a few minutes later, a big cloud of black smoke came up over the trees."
Fire officials said they initially responded to reports of a woods fire, finding Navy firefighters already trying to extinguish the burning wreckage and surrounding area. Once the fire was out, the scene was taken over by military officials.
The Navy told the local station that the plane is from Sea Control Squadron 32 -- "The Maulers" --and crashed on approach to NAS Jacksonville. Witnesses saw two parachutes before the crash and a search is under way for the pilot and co-pilot.
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Ortega resident Eric Cook said he saw the plane flying very low, with the engine running rough. His said the jet turned around to return to NAS, but was already tailing black smoke.
The S-3B is an all-weather, carrier-based jet aircraft, used for many missions, including surveillance, electronic countermeasures, warfare, and search and rescue. In normal missions, S-3s carry a crew of four -- pilot, co-pilot, navigator and an enlisted crewmember. For practice, they often fly with only a pilot an co-pilot.
This is the also the jet that shuttled President George W. Bush to the USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of San Diego in 2003 to announce the end of major combat in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
All three of the Navy's East Coast squadrons of Vikings are based at NAS Jacksonville.
Channel 4 has crews at the scene and will update this story throughout the afternoon as more information becomes available.
I wonder who came up the generic type of paint jobs they use these days. Our planes look like a third world air force.
UPDATED: 2:44 pm EDT September 21, 2005
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A Navy S-3B Viking jet crashed into woods just west of Naval Air Station Jacksonville at midday Wednesday, and the pilot and co-pilot are dead.
Ejection?
It's fade into the haze grey. Low IR emmission, bland features, no aiming points. Ya ain't supposed to see it...
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