THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 20, 1996 TAG: 9606200461
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BETHALTO, ILL. LENGTH: 41 lines
A Navy F/A-18 fighter jet doing aerobatic maneuvers while practicing for an air show crashed Wednesday near St. Louis, killing the pilot. No other injuries were reported.
The plane sheared off trees and power lines, hit a detached garage and narrowly missed a small brick house. It came to rest in the back yard, where it burned a black hole in the ground.
The plane, which was being flown by a pilot for St. Louis manufacturer McDonnell Douglas Corp., had spent the afternoon performing in the area.
Madison County Sheriff Bob Churchich confirmed the death of the pilot, who was not identified.
``He started doing an outside roll . . . and when he got to the top of the roll something went wrong, he stalled or something,'' said Gene Siglock, who lives in an unincorporated area near Bethalto, about two blocks from the crash site.
``He started coming down, and I lost him behind some trees. Then I heard a thump - not an explosion, just a loud thump - and I knew what'd happened.''
David Sanders saw the plane go down while working nearby.
``He just hit the top of the trees. I knew he wouldn't make it,'' Sanders said. ``The reason I was watching was I couldn't believe he was doing that over all these houses. I couldn't believe it.''
The jet was undergoing tests before being put into use by the Navy, said Larry McCracken, a spokesman for McDonnell Douglas.
Bethalto, population 9,500, is 24 miles northeast of St. Louis.
Another McDonnell Douglas spokesman, Fred Hill, said the plane was preparing for an air show in the Czech Republic next week.
The F/A-18 is the updated version of the F-18, the Navy's premier strike fighter. The F/A-18 is also flown by the Marines and is usually based on aircraft carriers.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT PLANE ACCIDENT MILITARY FATALITY US
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