THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 16, 1994 TAG: 9409160517
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENNIS JOYCE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
Two aviators from Oceana Naval Air Station are missing off the North Carolina coast after a midair collision that sent one F-14 Tomcat into the sea and forced another to make an emergency landing.
The Navy and Coast Guard continued searching Thursday for the crew of the downed plane - Lt. Karl Scott Belczyk, 32, of Collingdale, Pa., the pilot; and Lt. j.g. Marcus Pletcher, 25, of Chelsea, Mich., the radar intercept officer.
The jets collided about 40 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras about 10:15 p.m. Wednesday during training exercises involving the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower battle group. The exercises continued after the group's carrier pulled away last week for special duty off Haiti.
The second F-14 landed at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station in North Carolina, apparently the closest military airport, said base spokesman Capt. Scott Kisch. The two men aboard were examined at the Cherry Point medical center and released early Thursday morning. The Navy did not identify them.
The airplane landed without incident but appeared to have damage on its left side, Kisch said.
The exercise, Joint Task Force 95, was designed to prepare the Eisenhower group for its next regularly scheduled six-month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea. The deployment was scheduled to start in October.
But the Eisenhower left its 75 airplanes behind when it sailed from Norfolk on Wednesday with 1,800 Army troops and their helicopters. The troops may be used in a Haiti invasion, which could come any day, military officials say.
Because of the carrier's departure, the F-14s involved in the crash were operating from Oceana on Wednesday, said Chief Scott Mohr, spokesman for the Atlantic Fleet Naval Air Force.
The cause of the accident is under investigation.
Also taking part in the exercise were three Navy guided-missile cruisers, the Anzio and Cape St. George from Norfolk and the Gettysburg from Mayport, Fla.
Capt. Jina Dinicolo, a spokeswoman at U.S. Marine Headquarters in Washington, said the two missing crewmen might have ejected before the aircraft went down. Cmdr. Kevin Wensing with the naval air force could not confirm that report.
Both men are single and live in Virginia Beach. They are members of Fighter Squadron 32, the Swordsmen.
The search was being coordinated from aboard the Anzio, according to the Coast Guard 5th District in Portsmouth. Helping in the effort were the Coast Guard cutter Point Arena from Norfolk and two Coast Guard aircraft from Elizabeth City.
This is the second time in four weeks that an F-14 from Oceana crashed during a training mission.
On Aug. 26, an F-14 from Fighter Squadron 84, the Jolly Rogers, went down in North Carolina's Pamlico Sound. The two crewmen ejected about 27 miles northeast of Cherry Point.
The two - Lt. Jeffery Daus, 31, the pilot, and Lt. Kevin Martin, 29, the radar intercept officer - were treated the same day at the base's medical center and released. Another F-14 flown by Daus and Martin crashed Nov. 18 in North Carolina's Currituck Sound. Both men safely ejected. MEMO: Staff writer Jack Dorsey contributed to this story.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff Map
Graphic
The F-14
Cost: About $38 million each.
Recent crashes: Aug. 26, an F-14 from Oceana crashed in Pamlico
Sound. Nov. 18, 1993, a Tomcat crashed in Currituck Sound. The two
crewmen, the same in both crashes, safely ejected.
Its future: Scheduled to be phased out of service by 2015.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT AIRPLANE MILITARY AIRPLANE U.S. NAVY FATALITIES
F-14 by CNB