THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 24, 1995 TAG: 9503240423
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
Two Oceana aviators were rescued from the Atlantic with minor injuries on Thursday after ejecting from their F-14 Tomcat jet as it went into the ocean about 11 a.m.
The jet went down about 75 miles east of Virginia Beach.
Air Force Capt. Vance Charles Bateman, 32, an exchange pilot with Fighter Squadron 14, and Navy Lt. Jerry Seagle, 34, a radar intercept officer with the same squadron, were recovered by an Oceana-based search and rescue helicopter after spending about 50 minutes in the water.
Both were treated for mild hypothermia at the Oceana Naval Air Station's medical clinic.
Three other aircraft that happened to be in the area aided the helicopter in locating the downed fliers. They were an Air Force KC-135 tanker from McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, a KC-10 Extender from Seymour-Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina and a C-130 Hercules from the 102nd Rescue Squadron, a National Guard unit on Long Island.
Bateman and Seagle were on a training flight when the aircraft went down. The crash is under investigation.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT PLANE by CNB