THE LEDGER-STAR
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 15, 1994 TAG: 9409150702
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
Navy ships and aircraft were searching the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Hatteras this morning for an F-14 Tomcat and its two-member crew after the fighter jet collided with another F-14 from Oceana Naval Air Station.
The second plane made an emergency landing at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station in North Carolina, according to the Atlantic Fleet Naval Air Force in Norfolk. The pilot and radar intercept officer aboard were not injured. The extent of damage to the plane was not known.
The names of the four crew members were withheld until their relatives could be notified.
Capt. Jina Dinicolo, a spokeswoman at Marine headquarters in Washington, said the two missing crewmen might have ejected from their aircraft before it went down.
The collision occurred about 10:15 p.m. as the two fighter jets were taking part in a training exercise that also involved three Navy guided-missile cruisers, the Anzio and Cape St. George from Norfolk and the Gettysburg from Mayport, Fla.
The search was being coordinated from aboard the Anzio, according to the Coast Guard Fifth District in Portsmouth. With the large number of Navy ships and aircraft in the area, only one Coast Guard vessel - the Point Arena from Norfolk - was taking part in the search.
This is the second time in four weeks that an F-14 from Oceana has crashed during a training mission. The planes cost about $38 million each.
On Aug. 26, an F-14 from Fighter Squadron 84, the Jolly Rogers, went down in North Carolina's Pamlico Sound. The two-member crew ejected from the plane about 27 miles northeast of Cherry Point.
The two were treated and released the same day at the base's medical center.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT PLANE U.S. NAVY by CNB