THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 13, 1996 TAG: 9607130212
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: PENSACOLA, FLA. LENGTH: 51 lines
The F-16 fighter that crashed and killed a 4-year-old boy was taking a roundabout route to an Air Force base because of evacuations caused by Hurricane Bertha, officials said Friday.
The Fighting Falcon was among 49 planes being evacuated to Eglin Air Force Base, about 45 miles east of here, from Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., when it crashed into a house Thursday about a mile from Pensacola Regional Airport.
Instead of going straight to Eglin, a four-plane formation that included the doomed jet flew about 250 miles past the base, turned around over New Orleans and then headed back east.
The crash killed 4-year-old Sean Cannon and burned his mother, Robbin Cannon, 30, over 30 percent of her body. She was in serious condition Friday.
The boy's grandfather was angry the pilot had been so far from Eglin.
``I don't know why he came in here over a populated area trying to land at a municipal airport when you're having engine trouble,'' Jim Cannon, of Sansom, Ala., said. ``There's Eglin over yonder surrounded by a thousand miles of woods.''
``If they don't court-martial that bastard, I'm going to kill him,'' Cannon said.
The flight plan was designed to create space between the F-16s and other planes using the base, said Maj. Jerry Renne, an Eglin spokesman.
Each day, Eglin averages 200 takeoffs and landings of military and commercial aircraft - the base has its own airline terminal - in addition to the planes expected from Shaw.
``You didn't want 50 aircraft arriving at Eglin all at one time,'' said Col. Bill Alford, who is in charge of the crash site. ``As a result, they had the routing through New Orleans.''
Renne said investigators have told him nothing about why the pilot, who reported having engine trouble 20 miles north of Pensacola, tried to land at a civilian airport surrounded by homes, businesses and schools instead of two nearby naval air fields in less densely populated areas. ILLUSTRATION: Piecing together a tragic ending
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Air Force Capts. John Loughrey, left, and Don Mencl retrieve a tail
section of the F-16 fighter that crashed into a home in Pensacola on
Thursday. This portion of the jet broke off as the craft skidded
along the ground before hitting the house and bursting into flames.
The jet was among a group of planes being moved out of the reach of
Hurricane Bertha's winds.
KEYWORDS: FATALITY ACCIDENT PLANE ACCIDENT MILITARY
HURRICAN BERTHA F-16 by CNB