Navy Pilot: 'Sorry I Landed in Your Back Yard'

But everybody's OK after military crash in Virginia Beach
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 7, 2012 10:34 AM CDT
Navy Pilot: 'Sorry I Landed in Your Back Yard'
The burning fuselage of an F/A-18 Hornet lies smoldering after crashing into a residential building in Virginia Beach, Va., Friday.   (AP Photo/Zach Zapatero)

Incredibly, nobody got seriously hurt yesterday when a Navy jet malfunctioned and crashed into an apartment complex in Virginia Beach. Authorities said today that everybody is accounted for, reports the Daily Press of Newport News. The two pilots and five people on the ground were hospitalized, but only one pilot remains there, and he's in good condition. The pilots, one of them a trainee, apparently managed to dump most of the fuel before themselves ejecting, notes AP. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

Local channel WVEC-TV has some great eyewitness accounts, including:

  • "I walked around the back and there were people there and they had the pilot. He fell onto someone’s patio. He was in shock and he apologized to the person who was trying to help him. He said that 'I’m sorry I landed in your back yard.'"
(More Virginia Beach stories.)

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