(DEERFIELD, Va.) — A sheriff’s dispatcher says authorities are searching for a military jet that crashed in western Virginia.
Augusta County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher Becky Coynter says witnesses reported hearing a loud noise that sounded like an explosion just before 9 a.m. Wednesday.
Coynter says authorities don’t know whether anyone was injured in the crash.
A news release from state police says officials located the crash site, with heavy smoke coming from the side of a mountain. The statement says state and local police are trying to reach the site. Police did not offer other details.
August 27th, 2014, 16:02
Malsua
Re: Virginia: Military Jet Down
Big jet or fighter?
August 27th, 2014, 16:07
American Patriot
Re: Virginia: Military Jet Down
F-15 it appears, unarmed... single person plane. Nothing known about pilot at this time.
F-15 fighter jet crashes in Virginia forest
John Bacon and Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY 12:03 p.m. EDT August 27, 2014
An F-15C fighter jet based at a National Guard facility in Massachusetts crashed Wednesday in Virginia's George Washington and Jefferson National Forest, an Air Force spokesperson said.
The jet is a one-person craft and the status of the pilot was not immediately known, Maj. Candice Ismirle said.
The F-15C is part of the 104th Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard. It flew out of the Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield, Mass.
Maj. Matthew Mutti, a spokesman for the 104th Fighter Wing, said a single pilot was flying the F-15 over the Shenandoah Valley when it crashed, the Los Angeles Times reports. The pilot was en route to a nearby base so that the plane could receive a "system upgrade."
The jet was on a standard training exercise with no munition onboard, Mutti said. He didn't say where it was headed or release the pilot's name.
Augusta County Sheriff's Office scanners said one ambulance was sent to the rugged national forest area.
Sheriff's Office dispatcher Becky Coynter said witnesses reported hearing a loud noise that sounded like an explosion just before 9 a.m. Wednesday. Coynter said military officials in Washington told local authorities that communication with a military jet had been lost.
"It's the loudest noise I've ever heard," 63-year-old Rebecca Shinaberry, who lives on a farm about two miles away, told The Associated Press. "(It) just shook the ground, and from my house we could just see a big plume of smoke."
Emergency responders approaching the scene had reported visible smoke on the horizon, The News Leader in Staunton, Va., said. "I'm on location, with smoke, and we do have debris," said one responder on emergency radio frequencies at 10:04 a.m. ET. "I got debris everywhere ... I haven't located anybody."
Law enforcement officers who had approached the site of the crash were advised that the smoke could be toxic.
The emergency dispatcher said on the scanner that the Federal Aviation Administration had called to advise that the plane was not armed, but that the fuel is "corrosive."
Police closed an area road, Old Parkersburg Turnpike, to non-emergency traffic.
The 104th Fighter Wing supports Air Force wartime efforts, and organizes, trains and equips personnel to provide an operationally ready squadron to the Air Combat Command.
August 27th, 2014, 16:15
Malsua
Re: Virginia: Military Jet Down
Hopefully the pilot was able to eject.
August 27th, 2014, 16:17
Malsua
Re: Virginia: Military Jet Down
Speaking of...pilots encounter upwards of 20gs during ejection and almost always have something broken or other issues like a compressive spine injury. You see a pilot eject in a movie and he's happy as a clam in the next scene, the reality is far more severe.
A Massachusetts Air National Guard F-15C fighter crashed and burned Wednesday morning in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, shortly after the pilot reported an emergency.
"Information on this incident is developing rapidly and we are not going to speculate on what occurred or the status of the pilot," said Col. James Keefe, 104th Fighter Wing Commander. "We are hopeful that the pilot is OK, and the pilot will be in our thoughts and prayers as the events of this incident unfold."
The plane was en route from Massachusetts to New Orleans for a system upgrade when it went down with a bang that was heard for miles in Deerfield, Va.
“I was laying in bed and I felt a jolt. It shook my house. I heard a big boom and a roar afterward,” Lisa Dula told NBC News. Dula said she ran out and tried to drive to the scene but could not get close to the wooded area at the foot of the mountain. “You could see the smoke going up in the air,” she said.
Garrett Beck, who works on a farm a mile from the crash site, said he heard two booms and ran outside to see if a tire on a truck had blown. "I turned around and there was a mushroom cloud. It looked like something you see in a movie after they dropped a bomb," he said.
Mal, I assisted the pilot after a crash in Oklahoma many years ago.
Two of us were fishing in a farm pond near Tinker and the National Guard guys were doing touch and gos in F-105 Thunderchiefs.
The 3rd of four planes had a flame out - made a God-Awful sound went up, canted sideways, the pilot ejected practically over our heads and the plane fell about 1/2 mile from us - the pilot following rapidly. His chute opened at the last possible instant and he plowed into the ground. We were already running to him.
Got there and pulled him and his freakin' heavy assed chair from the flames and dragged him to safety.
Both his legs were broken and he had a slight concussion as well.
Fire crews showed up, put out the fires - and we had munitions going off around us. Why they were flying with live rounds I don't know to this day - since it was practice and this was in the 1970s.
Someone told me it was some of the anti-missile stuff going off, but to me it sounded like rounds cooking off with pops and bangs, with sparks and flames going every which way.
If the pilot got to eject, he's in the trees someplace. If not... he's in the "trees" someplace....
August 27th, 2014, 16:59
Malsua
Re: Virginia: Military Jet Down
First responder...very interesting.
14th July 1978, Republic F-105DCrashed\while serving at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma.
Sure looks like what might have been what was left. LOL!
I don't remember it being July, but it was pretty hot out. :)
The pilot was pretty injured. Did you find any information? I remember broken legs, possible concussion... Not sure if there were any other injuries. Don't remember his rank either.
August 27th, 2014, 17:31
Malsua
Re: Virginia: Military Jet Down
Quote:
Originally Posted by American Patriot
Good picture!
Sure looks like what might have been what was left. LOL!
I don't remember it being July, but it was pretty hot out. :)
The pilot was pretty injured. Did you find any information? I remember broken legs, possible concussion... Not sure if there were any other injuries. Don't remember his rank either.
I only found a site that shows all the crashes of these planes...holy sheet a lot fell out of the air.
The Century series jets were very brutal and unforgiving in general.
That's why it was such a joke when liberals minimized GWB's flying in the TXANG in an F-102. Not the most dangerous Century series jet but none of the flight computers and avionics today's modern aircraft enjoy with many having just as much or even more raw power than today's aircraft.
August 27th, 2014, 18:18
American Patriot
Re: Virginia: Military Jet Down
They called those (and the F104s) "Thunds" "cuz" (as the joke went) "that's the sound they make when they hit the ground".
LOL
Back in those days, Ryan, the only "computer" was autopilot and they weren't too good as computers went. The F16s were really the first computerized aircraft I remember. I suppose they all had some kind of computer systems, navigation, etc, but the stuff was kind of primitive.
No sign of pilot yet. Pilot DID eject they are saying (Not sure how they know that).
August 27th, 2014, 18:53
American Patriot
Re: Virginia: Military Jet Down
Correction ... Pilot is NOT KNOWN TO HAVE EJECTED. There was a distress call. They HOPE HE EJECTED.
No word on him at this time.
August 27th, 2014, 19:01
American Patriot
Re: Virginia: Military Jet Down
Pilot Missing After F-15 Fighter Jet Crashes in Virginia
Military: We Don't Know if Pilot Ejected
NBC News
A Massachusetts Air National Guard F-15C fighter crashed and burned Wednesday morning in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, shortly after the pilot reported an emergency.
“There is an ongoing rescue mission," Col. James Keefe, commander of the 104th Fighter Wing, said at n afternoon press conference. “At this time we have no had contact with our pilot."
It was unknown if the pilot, who was very experienced, managed to eject from the single-seater plane. Helicopters and ground rescue crews were looking for the airman in a remote area near the town of Deerfield.
"It's deeply wooded and a lot of hills and mountains," Keefe said, adding that there was no cellphone service in the area and it was possible the pilot ditched his radio if he bailed out. "We're thinking about the family. Keep your thoughts and prayers with him," Keefe said.
The plane was en route from Massachusetts to New Orleans to get a new radar system when it went down with a window-rattling bang that was heard and felt for miles around.
“I was laying in bed and I felt a jolt. It shook my house. I heard a big boom and a roar afterward,” Lisa Dula told NBC News. Dula said she ran out and tried to drive to the scene but could not get close to the wooded area at the foot of the mountain. “You could see the smoke going up in the air,” she said.
Garrett Beck, who works on a farm a mile from the crash site, said he heard two booms and ran outside to see if a tire on a truck had blown. "I turned around and there was a mushroom cloud. It looked like something you see in a movie after they dropped a bomb," he said.
Posted: Wednesday, August 27, 2014 2:45 pm | Updated: 10:03 pm, Wed Aug 27, 2014.
Brian Carlton bcarlton@newsvirginian.com DEERFIELD-Crews continue to search for the pilot of the F15-C plane that crashed in Deerfield Wednesday morning. The incident happened at 9:06 a.m., when the plane went down near Elliot Knob. One minute earlier, the pilot had informed air traffic control officials in Washington D.C. that there was a problem with the aircraft. Air National Guard officials this afternoon didn’t go into detail as to what that problem was but said the plane, which is a 1986 model, had checked out fine previously. As part of a program to upgrade earlier model aircraft, the plane was en route to New Orleans to get a new radar system when it went down.
“There is an ongoing rescue effort at this time,” said Col. James Keefe, Wing Commander of the Air National Guard’s 104th Fighter Wing, based out of Westfield, Massachusetts. “We have not had contact with our pilot since [this morning].”
Keefe told reporters that the pilot was very experienced and had trained for these types of situations. If the pilot ejected, making contact will be harder, officials explained. Pilots are taught that standard ejection procedure is to release all equipment, anything that could get caught in a tree or otherwise weight a person down. That includes the radio and all other items the pilot may have had.
“It’s an extremely wooded area and it’s hard to get to,” Keefe said of the area in which the plane crashed. Elliott Knob has an elevation of 4,463 feet, making it the highest point in Augusta County. Overall, it’s an estimated 5 to 6 miles from the site to any neighbors.
Smoke was spotted just before 10 a.m. and fire and rescue personnel found a large debris field up against Elliott Knob.Virginia State Police Spokeswoman Corinne Geller said that there were reports "of a loud boom” before the smoke was seen. When Augusta County sheriff’s deputies, fire departments and the Virginia State Police arrived on the scene, they didn’t see the pilot at the crash site. That situation, combined with witnesses who reported seeing a parachute open, led officials to start a rescue operation which includes multiple local, state and federal agencies. The Department of Homeland Security also added investigators to the search Wednesday afternoon.
Air National Guard officials confirmed that, as this was a repair mission, there were no missiles or other weapons on board.
August 28th, 2014, 17:16
Malsua
Re: Virginia: Military Jet Down
Wow, they still can't find the pilot..sheesh.
August 29th, 2014, 13:03
American Patriot
Re: Virginia: Military Jet Down
Just got word.
An Air National Guard F-15 pilot whose jet crashed was killed, military officials confirmed. The F-15C Eagle fighter jet slammed into the ground Wednesday. The search for the pilot was made difficult because of mountains and forest.
August 29th, 2014, 14:10
Ryan Ruck
Re: Virginia: Military Jet Down
Quote:
Originally Posted by American Patriot
Just got word.
An Air National Guard F-15 pilot whose jet crashed was killed, military officials confirmed. The F-15C Eagle fighter jet slammed into the ground Wednesday. The search for the pilot was made difficult because of mountains and forest.
