Navy Jet Crashes into Building in Virginia Beach

A witness told MSNBC cable television that he arrived seconds after the crash at a building he described as a two-story apartment building that he said had been hit dead center. Aerial television coverage showed black smoke billowing from several buildings.
The Sentara Virginia Beach Hospital admitted one patient who had been on the ground at the time of the crash, the public information officer at the facility said. The individual had suffered smoke inhalation, but their condition was unknown, the spokesman said.
A Navy official told NBC News that both pilots had been taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. "They were ambulatory," the official told NBC.
Chief Tim Riley of Virginia Beach Fire and Rescue said four to five buildings were on fire and that there was significant damage to about 20 apartments.
Cmdr. Phil Rosi of the Navy said the two-seat jet fighter crashed about 12:05 p.m. shortly after takeoff. He said both crew members ejected from the aircraft.
Witnesses described a frightening scene as they saw the aircraft plummet toward the ground.
John Swain told MSNBC he was driving, coming off Interstate 264 to head north.
"The plane came right over us and was clearly in difficulty," he said. “There was flames coming off the back … The plane got lower and lower and just as I turned … it crashed."

He said the jet apparently crashed into what looked like a two-story apartment building.
"Within five seconds of it going down I was at the building where it hit," Swain said.
Ernie Gonzalez, who is retired military, was sitting on the front porch of his daughter-in-law’s house behind the base where the jet had taken off. He said a few other jets had departed before the one that crashed for what was believed to be a practice or training run. The doomed jet quickly ran into trouble.
"He was flying real low like he didn’t have any power,” Gonzalez told msnbc.com by telephone.
"He was smoking really bad. Bad smoke was coming out of the engine. It kind of backfired a couple times. I heard two pops … then 15 seconds later I heard the explosion."
Gonzalez said the other jets then started circling around the crash site.
Austin Makie, of Virginia Beach, said he was golfing with two friends on a course a few miles away from where the jet went down. He said they were riding in a cart headed to the next hole when they heard a loud boom.
"We looked around … and there was a very large pile of smoke. There was really big stench like gas in the air," he told msnbc.com.
The jet was taking off from nearby Naval Air Station Oceana, a Navy official said.
State and local police were on the scene to assist the military, according to Grazia Moyers, spokeswoman for the Virginia Beach Police Department, NBC affiliate station WAVY reported.
"We are taking all possible steps at the state level to provide immediate resources and assistance to those impacted by the crash..." said Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. "Our fervent prayer is that no one was injured or killed in this accident."

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