Posted on 01/12/2006 2:33:30 PM PST by Little_shoe
Missing Navy aircraft found with no survivors
The Associated Press - LaFAYETTE, Ga.
The crash site of a missing Navy jet with four aviators aboard was found late Wednesday.
None of the jet's passenger's survived the crash, Air Force Special Operations Command spokesman Matt Durhan told Atlanta radio station WSB.
The wreckage was found more than 24 hours after it failed to make its scheduled landing at Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida following a low-level bomb training mission, the Civil Air Patrol said.
Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson would not say if the jet's passengers survived but did say a coroner was on the scene.
The military did not immediately return phone calls from The Associated Press early Thursday morning.
Wilson said the jet was found in a remote, wooded area Wednesday evening by a Georgia State Patrol helicopter using infrared. The jet appeared to have sustained some fire damage, Wilson said.
The search for the jet and the four aviators on board covered a swath of Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama on Wednesday.
Capt. Lee Little, a pilot in charge of Training Wing 6 based at Pensacola, Fla., said the search area stretched from Chattanooga, Tenn., to Montgomery, Ala., over rugged terrain. It was scaled back substantially for the night.
The Navy T-39 Sabreliner took off from Chattanooga and was scheduled to arrive in Pensacola around 3 p.m. Tuesday, said Navy Lt. j.g. Sean Robertson, a public affairs officer.
A Navy instructor, a Navy student, an Air Force student and a civilian contract pilot were on board, Robertson said. Their identities have not been released.
Authorities were responding to reported sightings of a plane in distress in an area from Walker County, just south of Chattanooga to Mineral Bluff, Ga., just south of the western tip of North Carolina.
"Since our first report from the Air Force, we have received calls from as far away as ... Mineral Bluff from residents claiming they saw a plane that appeared to be in trouble. And they believed it was a military aircraft," said Capt. Mike Mabrey of the Gilmer County, Ga., Sheriff's Department.
The aircraft was assigned to Training Squadron 86. It took off for a navigation training mission around 11 a.m. from Chattanooga. The last radio contact came at 11:20 a.m., Robertson said.
"All we know is the aircraft made contact, and we haven't heard anything since," he said.
Little said the trainer jet was equipped with an emergency location transmitter, but the device was not transmitting. Officials did not know why.
She said the plane would have been flying at between 500 and 1,000 feet.
"They are practicing running at a low level to a target and dropping the bombs," Little said. "We don't carry bombs on these aircraft, but they are simulating what they would be doing in a tactical aircraft.
She said there was no distress call before the plane disappeared.
"The mood on the base is difficult today. But we all understand the hazards of flying," she said.
The Civil Air Patrol had aircraft over the search area, while sheriff's deputies and other emergency responders scoured the heavily wooded countrysides of north Georgia. Early search efforts were hampered by the rugged terrain and rainy weather.
Sheriff Wilson said he had set up a command post in southern part of his county, directly south of Chattanooga, after a woman reported hearing a plane in distress and a farmer working in his field who said he heard what sounded like a crash.
Sabreliners are used for training navigators and other non-pilot air crew officers for the Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and foreign military services.
Just waiting for the "already posted" police to show up.
Are you stationed at VT-86? If so, what's the word? Were they on a visual or radar low level?
No I didnt get to 86. I was in vt-4 when I got washed out. However many of my friends and people i went to class with are with 86. I left pensacola like four months ago after I got RIF'd
I was in VT-86 in 1989. The squadron had Citations, T-2's and TA-4's at the time.
Very sad. Prayers for these aviators and their families.
Had to be visual. AFAIK, the aircraft is not equipped with a terrain type radar. It has a version of the radar in earlier model F-16s, the APG-66. Neither that radar, nor the newer APG-68, have terrain clearance modes. F-16s can be equipped with the LANTIRN system, which includes a Ku band Terrain following radar. Still, 500-1000 feet is quite doable visually, even at the speeds the aircraft is capable of. Assuming good visibility that is. Not always true, even in clear weather in that area. They call them the Smokey Mountains for a reason. (It's not smoke, of course but rather a sort of smog generated by the trees. )
Prayers up for the families of those lost. I didn't know the old Sabreliners were still in use by the military. They are nice planes, considering how old they are.
Prayers for their families... may God bless them all.
Navy releases identities of crash victims
Nicole Lozare
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com
The Navy has released the identities of the four crew members who died in the Tuesday crash of a T-39 Sabreliner attached to the Pensacola Naval Air Station. The training aircraft, which was missing since Tuesday afternoon, was found late Wednesday night in a remote area of northwest Georgia.
The deceased crew members are:
Navy Lt. Jason S. Manse, 30, of Omaha, Neb.
Navy Ensign Elizabeth Bonn, 23, of Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Air Force 1st Lt. Jason W. Davis, 28, of Vista, Calif.
Retired Navy Cmdr. Dave Roark, 68, of Pensacola.
The crew, who belonged to Training Squadron 86, were on a one-day routine training mission to Chattanooga, Tenn. They refueled in Chattanooga and departed for Pensacola around 11 a.m. on Tuesday. Twenty minutes later, the crew radioed in that they were nearing the entry point of their low-level route where the two students ? Davis and Bonn ? could begin their visual navigation training, Navy officials said.
That was the last time anyone heard from the crew, officials said.
"Over the years, there had been (aviation) accidents where close friends lost their lives," said David Roark, Jr., son of Roark who was piloting the aircraft, on Thursday afternoon.
"We knew the risk was there. My dad just loved flying. It was the coolest job ? he was almost 70 years old and flying and he held the respect of everyone around him."
A Navy mishap investigation team was en route to the northwest Georgia crash site on Thursday morning. Officials declined to give the exact location of the wreckage.
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060112/NEWS01/601120338/1006
They finally released the names of the crewmembers who were killed and it turns out that one of the students aboard, Elizabeth Bonn, was a friend and classmate who I had went through primary with. I would like to everybody to pray for their families as they go through this strugging time.
God bless you, dear. My daughter is stationed at Eglin AFB and she would be affected deeply were one of her fellow Airmen ever lost. I am sure that your fellow military personnel at Eglin extend their condolences to their Pensecola brethren at this time...
Prayers for all the families.
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