DATE: Saturday, September 20, 1997          TAG: 9709200373

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   38 lines

NAVY DIVERS BEING SENT TO NORTH CAROLINA TO HELP RETRIEVE WRECKED JET

A team of Hampton Roads-based Navy divers has been assigned to help recover the wreck of a Marine Corps F/A-18D Hornet jet that crashed Monday night in Pamlico Sound, N.C.

Ten divers from Detachment Delta of Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit 2 left Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base on Friday for the wreck site, about 25 miles northeast of Morehead City.

It is the second high-profile operation in the past week for the Little Creek-based unit. Another detachment, which earlier this week completed the recovery of bodies from a sunken Haitian passenger ferry, is scheduled to return to Little Creek's Pier 58 East at 10 a.m. Sunday aboard the salvage ship Grasp.

Lt. Dan Santos, operations officer for the diving and salvage unit, said several divers from the Haiti mission may be added to his 10-person team at the North Carolina crash site early next week.

He said the operating tempo of the unit has been ``pretty high'' in recent weeks. He noted that 15 divers in still another of the unit's four detachments are scheduled to leave Monday for a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean aboard a Military Sealift Command tugboat.

The crash of the Marine Corps jet killed Capt. Brian Smith, 28, of Nashville, Tenn., and Capt. Stephen S. McDonald, 30, of Sugar Land, Texas. Smith was the pilot and McDonald the weapons and sensor officer aboard the jet, which was based at Cherry Point Naval Air Station.

Their plane crashed while on a training mission in the Piney Island bombing range, and their bodies were recovered by Marines on Tuesday.

Santos said the aircraft debris is scattered over about a quarter-mile in water that ranges from 3 to 12 feet deep. He said the aircraft recovery may take as many as 15 days and will be assisted by Marines in crane-equipped landing craft and other boats. KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT PLANE MILITARY PLANE RECOVERY

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu