F-18 Jet Crashes Into Virginia Beach Apartment Building, Pilot Apologizes
A jet crashed into Virginia Beach, Va. at about 12:30 p.m. but two Navy pilots managed to eject themselves from the F-18 fighter jet before the moment of impact, parachuting their way to relative safety.
The Virginia Beach jet crash resulted in the pilots' escape, but at least five people were injured and required treatment after the plane slammed into the building, setting one building aflame and taking the roof off another. Despite the fireball that resulted from the crash, the plane had been dumping fuel on the way down, preventing a possible explosion on impact.
"By doing so, he mitigated what could have been an absolute massive, massive fireball and fire," Bruce Nedelka, Virginia Beach EMS division chief, told the Associated Press. "With all of that jet fuel dumped, it was much less than what it could have been."
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Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms told reporters that although no fatalities had been seen so far, that the report could change as emergency workers comb through the building and debris.
"The pilots are safe, they are OK," he said in an interview with WTKR news. "Now we have to wait and see what happens when we get into the buildings."
One witness described finding one of the pilots amid the wreckage. The pilot had "lacerations" on his face, but was still able to apologize for hitting the apartment complex, said the eyewitness to a CNN affiliate.
So far, preliminary assessments have shown three buildings decimated, with two more damaged, according to WVEC-TV. The F/A-18D fighter jet managed to avoid a senior citizen's home and a school, though, possibly minimizing the lives that could have been lost.
The Birdneck Road area of Virginia Beach was surrounded by black smoke as emergency workers combed through the wreckage.
Gov. Bob McDonnell told reporters that the state is providing funds and resources to help with the disaster.
The cause of the crash is currently unknown.
