DATE: Tuesday, September 16, 1997           TAG: 9709160301

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NAOMI AOKI, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   33 lines

MARINE FIGHTER JET CRASHES NEAR PAMLICO SOUND ON TRAINING RUN

A Marine Corps F/A-18D Hornet jet from Beaufort, S.C., crashed in the Piney Island bombing range near the Pamlico Sound on Monday night, Marine Corps officials said.

The fighter jet seats two pilots, but it was not known how many people were in the aircraft when it went down, said Sgt. Joseph Muniz, spokesman at Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point, N.C.

Marine Corps helicopters continued to search for the fighter and any survivors late Monday night, Muniz said. The Coast Guard, Air Force and Navy assisted.

Both seats in the $28-million F/A-18 can be ejected.

The jet is equipped with night radar and was on a routine training mission conducting night bombing runs at the range when it crashed at about 8:30 p.m., Muniz said.

The jet was assigned to Marine Fighter Squadron 224 at Marine Corps Air Station, Beaufort, S.C.

The nearby Dare County range is a training area where pilots can practice bombing runs. Pilots from Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach and Langley Air Force Base in Hampton regularly use the range.

The last crash near the range was July 11, when an Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle fighter crashed in the woods near the range.

That two-man crew ejected safely. The $30 million aircraft was from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro. KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT PLANE MILITARY PLANE F/A-18D HORNET

JET NORTH CAROLINA

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