Posted on 04/06/2012 9:53:59 AM PDT by pgkdan
No other details as yet. Just reported as an emergency blurb on local radio. Prayers requested for all affected!
A Navy F-18 out of NAS Oceana has crashed into an apartment comp0lex in Virginia Beach VA at the intersection of Birdneck Rd and I 264.
Norfolk native here. I was born and raised in Ocean View and grew up living one block from the Naval Air Station. I always felt that it was just a part of life in Tidewater that you were in the flight path. All of the schools that I attended were in flight paths, and you just stopped talking when a plane went over. The area around all the bases, especially Oceana and Dam Neck, that used to be rural is now subdivisions, condos and apartments.
My niece still lives there and called me today to let me know about the crash. She said that the media was already making noise about shutting down the base. She works for one of the big defense contractors and is very pro-military, and she was just sick that this has happened.
We thank You, Lord, that more people weren’t hurt, and ask that You comfort the injured civilians and the pilots.
>>>We thank You, Lord, that more people weren’t hurt, and ask that You comfort the injured civilians and the pilots.<<<
AMEN!
4:15 p.m. EDT, April 6, 2012
Updates: Six patients including the two pilots have been admitted to the hospital. One has already been released. Among those admitted was a police officer. One person had smoke inhalation. Officials say one of the pilots is in good condition and the other is in fair condition. One or two people may be kept for observation. No one has been reported missing.
No fatalities have been reported.
Five buildings have been damaged according to Tim Riley of the Virginia Beach Fire Department. He also stated that three other buildings were structurally unsound and they could not enter for safety reasons. They were able to search two of the buildings.
There have been seven reported injuries. Three people refused treatment at the scene and four were transported with non-life threatening injuries.
http://www.wtkr.com/news/wtkr-breaking-jet-crashes-in-virginia-beach-20120406,0,7398746.story
Hey, idiot!
I am a Korean ‘War’ veteran who flew fighter planes!
Anyone who has flown knows that there is much that the pilot can do to avoid residencial neighborhoods.
Now, clear off my case!
I did, damnit. Read my other post!
Prayers...................
Thanks for reporting that, Smooth.
It looks like this may indeed turn out to be a miracle in that they’ll be no loss of life.
I am a Korean ‘War’ veteran who flew fighter planes!
Anyone who has flown knows that there is much that the pilot can do to avoid residencial neighborhoods.
Now, clear off my case!
With all due respect for your service, you obviously don’t know much about the Virginia Beach area. I had a friend who was stationed there and I visited there more than a few times and these apartments are very close to the air base and it is a densely populated area.
When things go suddenly wrong and very bad in a low flying aircraft, sometimes there is not a whole lot a pilot can do. It appears the pilot did all that he could to avoid hitting the residential buildings but sometimes bad stuff happens. Fortunately in this case, it seems that casualties and injuries are low.
Prayers lifted.
Thanks, Kathy, for letting us know that they’re safe!
I think before it’s all said and done there’s going to be some families dealing with very bad news. There are two buildings that are partially destroyed and these are where the 5 injured folks were taken from. There are 2 other buildings that are just steaming piles of ashes. They are completely burned to the ground and because of what the mayor referred to as ‘toxic smoke’, no-one has been through those ashes yet.
So far, so good.
5:09 p.m. EDT, April 6, 2012
Updates: Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital has received a total of seven patients.
The latest patient, an EMS volunteer, was checked into the emergency department at 4:00PM EDT with knee pain related to working at the scene of the crash.
Other patients included two with smoke inhalation, one of whom was treated and released, one who blacked out at the scene and was brought for evaluation and a Virginia Beach police officer who fell at the scene and was injured.
The other two patients are the Navy air crew, one of whom is in fair condition and one of whom is in good condition. The Navy will release any additional information about their personnel.
The Virginia Beach Animal Care and Adoption Center will be staffed all night tonight for residents evacuated due to the jet crash who need to drop off their pets. If possible, please provide a photo ID, emergency contact number, and any available health information for your pet. The Animal Care and Adoption Center will shelter these pets through Sunday, April 8 at 3 p.m. Call (757) 385-4444 (select option 2) for more information.
The host emphasized that in 60 seconds, the pilot is reaching for the ejection handle and doing whatever he has to do in those moments to save two lives, his own and the other guy.
Leni (Florida)
I hope you are wrong.
This is supposed to be Good Friday.
Never mind the irony, but I’m thinking lots of children are home as well as their parents, instead of work and school. I was scared when I 1st saw this there will be dead children. But maybe I’m wrong.
In this case there is no way too avoid such. It is surrounded. The base was built for WW2 in about 1942 out in the boonies. Virginia Beach wasn't yet a city but a small town and population was low. The 1940 census put the population of Virginia Beach which would not have included Oceana at roughly 20,000. Now it is 450,000 plus. There is not one air base in the Hampton Roads Operational area which is approachable without crossing significat population close in.
Hampton Roads Operation Area is primarly a defense oriented city. Needless to say when one lives in such an area there is assumed risk that comes with it. Either that move about 30 miles south and drive in every day to work.
Look on a map at Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Hampton, Newport News, and tell me where the boonies are at. The area in question is heavilly populated and the bases were built before the sprawl began. The only place to crash without hitting something is the water and even then IF you even make it there you still stand the chance of hitting people on incoming or out going ships etc as it is a busy port.
We had that happen in Alameda a long time ago. A Navy jet heading into NAS Alameda slammed into a large apartment bldg, and the carnage was huge.
And then there was the privately owned antique Air Force F-85 owned by William Penn Patrick, crashed into Farrel’s ice cream parlor in Sacramento when about 50 kids were in there for a birthday party. Can’t get much uglier than that.
I think it was Christmas time, 1984, when a small private plane attempting to find its way through the fog to Buchanan Field in Concord crashed into Sun Valley Mall when it was full of thousands of shoppers. That was another ultra ugly one. My wife and I were with four of our kids at a bowling alley, and our two eldest were at the mall that night, but far from the crash site. The daughter and grandson of the woman that I had just bought our house from were not so fortunate; they were both right under the spot where the plane hit, and were both severely burned.
At a 5:30 press conference the Chief of the VBFD said that they'd completed an initial search of all 5 affected units and haven't found any bodies. There were five builings afftected, 2 completely destroed and a total of 40 apartments damaged or destroyed and so far no one killed. That's simply amazing. A miracle. Praise God!
>> “Any residents who come across any aircraft parts are instructed to not touch the parts, as it is a federal offense to touch military aircraft or its parts...” <<
.
Incredible!
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I thank God they made it out.
In 2002 I think it was I made a trip back there while on a vacation to Busch Gardens. Ocean View as I knew it was gone. I told someone else it looked like someone started a dozer down at The Spit and leveled everything standing up too Little Creek. I found the apartment building and an old 7-11 that was it.
I was amazed at how much the entire area had grown since 1980. Only one place I went still looked the same and that was Highway 17 down in The Swamp. That drive was one of my favorite get out of Norfolk places to go when I couldn't get home on the weekends.
I don't think Oceana or any of the other bases should be closed. But I do think all services need too get all of their eggs out of one basket and relocate a few eggs to other venues like to Mayport, Charleston, etc. Too many assets are in one place is my real worry.
BTW...hats off to the fantastic men an women of the VBFD! They did outstanding work. They had a jet fuel fueled inferno and 25 mph winds and brought that thing under control in an hour!
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