The pilot and flight officer who survived the Thursday crash of their Navy S-3B Viking in northeastern Oglethorpe County were identified in a Friday news release from the Navy.
The release identifies the pilot of the downed jet as Lt. Steve ''Bull'' Allum, a 29-year-old with seven years in the Navy. Allum has logged more than 1,250 hours in the S-3B, including 319 aircraft carrier landings.
The flight officer is Lt. Jack Thomas ''Bilbo'' Hurley. Hurley has been in the Navy for more than 15 years, including time as an enlisted sailor. He has more than 1,000 hours of flight time in the S-3B, including 289 carrier landings.
Both men are veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
Allum and Hurley are assigned to Sea Control Squadron 24, the ''Scouts,'' at Jacksonville (Fla.) Naval Air Station, which operates eight SB-3 Vikings. They were on a routine training mission when their plane went down shortly before 11:30 a.m.
They had left Jacksonville at 9:15 a.m. and were due to return there later in the day.
On Friday, the two aviators were returning to Jacksonville. They spent some time Thursday at Athens Regional Medical Center for precautionary observation.
The cause of the crash remained unknown Friday, and an investigation by the Naval Accident Investigation Review Board is continuing.
The Thursday crash came almost exactly four months after the April 1 crash of an SB-3 Viking that veered off the deck of the USS Constellation and into the Persian Gulf due to a malfunction during landing. The two crew members on board that Viking ejected and were rescued.
But last September, the three crew members aboard an SB-3 operating off the USS Harry Truman near Puerto Rico were killed when their plane went down in the Atlantic Ocean.
And in November 1999, the two crew members aboard an SB-3 died when their aircraft plunged into the Persian Gulf moments after being catapulted from the deck of the USS John F. Kennedy.