THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 8, 1994 TAG: 9406080484
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940608 LENGTH: OREGON INLET
The charter craft, from the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center, was about 20 miles out in the Atlantic. The ocean air was warm and humid. The nose of a fighter jet appeared on the horizon.
{REST} Then, the boat's four plate glass windows exploded.
``Glass flew everywhere and covered the cabin. There wasn't a piece left in the 8-foot-long frames. My charter party was buried beneath piles of it 6 inches deep,'' Spencer said Tuesday afternoon of the incident that occurred at 3:50 p.m. the day before. ``I didn't really even see the plane until it was right on top of us. By the time the big boom came, it was already gone in a trail of black smoke.''
Watermen say they often see military planes swooping over the shores of North Carolina's barrier islands.
Sometimes the pilots train in rigid formations. In other instances, jets roll and dive. Often, aircraft break the sound barrier.
``Most of the time they fly so high you can't even see them,'' Spencer said. ``You can hear the sonic booms a few seconds after they've passed. But they're usually way up there.
``This time, though, he wasn't as high as the top of a telephone pole. He was that close. I'd say no more than 50 feet over my head.''
Captains of at least six nearby boats backed Spencer's altitude estimate. Mates said the jet appeared to be headed right for the Sizzler. No one could understand why it was flying so low.
``I was scared for those guys when I saw it coming at 'em,'' said Capt. Bobby Croswait, who was about a half-mile behind Spencer on Monday's trip back to dock. ``That jet pulled the water right off the ocean in 50-foot plumes. They almost touched the plane engines. It was an awesome sight.
``He went right over the top of the boats in a straight path,'' Croswait said of the jet's pilot. ``Then cut right up at an 80-degree angle and disappeared.''
Tuesday morning, the Navy began investigating the incident.
``There were a number of aircraft conducting routine training flights in the vicinity of those boats Monday afternoon,'' said Lt. Commander Kevin Wensing of the Atlantic Fleet Naval Air Station in Norfolk. An F-16D based at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach was practicing combat maneuvers in the area at the time of the incident, Wensing said.
Wensing and other Navy officials refused to comment on how low the plane was flying or whether it was flying within an allowable range.
Navy policy sets minimum altitude levels at 500 feet.
``We are trying to determine if the pilot was within standard operating procedures,'' Wensing said. ``If it was a military aircraft that caused the problems, the government will pay.
``There is a potential for disciplinary action if wrongdoing is found,'' Wensing said.
Charter parties on at least a dozen boats saw the plane and its unusual path. Only three of the charter fleet's 38 boats sustained damage. No one was seriously injured.
``One man on our party was cut up from head to toe by broken glass,'' said Mark Holmes, the mate on the Osprey. ``The window shattered behind him. We bandaged him up on the boat. But he was still bleeding about an hour later when we got in.''
The vacationing anglers from New York, who paid $800 a day to charter the boats, left town after the fishing trip. Holmes, Spencer and another captain whose plastic curtains were ripped out of his boat's bridge during the blast spent all Monday night patching their crafts.
Captains of the damaged boats said they intend to file claims with the Navy. Spencer estimated his damage to be ``at least a few thousand dollars.'' The other boats each sustained hundreds of dollars worth of damage.
Retired Navy pilot Steve Bingham, now an assistant professor of aeronautical science at Norfolk Naval Air Station, said he has heard of similar incidents in which planes blew out the windows of boats below. Although Bingham could not comment on Monday's accident, he explained why such things might happen.
``Sound is nothing but vibrations in the air. If the sound is at a high enough frequency and loud enough volume, it could break glass,'' Bingham said.
Besides breaking the boats' windows, the low-flying plane unlatched cabin door hinges and sent hatch covers shooting up to a foot in the air, captains said.
``Everything just exploded at once. It's a miracle no one was hurt real bad,'' said Spencer, one of a half-dozen Oregon Inlet captains who lead the fleet in a daily sunrise prayer at sea. ``We were real lucky. The pilot was just playing around. But it sure was a shock to all of us.''
by CNB