Wow. Every day I learn something from my fellow Freepers.
The other thing I learned in the Navy is that military planes crash a lot. More than the general population knows.
It happens.
I gave that a lot of thought over the years, and realized that, back then, unless the plane crashed into an apartment building or heavily populated area, if you didn’t live in the area the ship or squadron was based out of, you might never hear of it.
I saw, with my own eyes, in one four year stint, an F-14 crash, F-8 crash, an A-6 crash, and an SH-3 crash. With my own eyes. We also lost several other planes that I didnt’ see. And that was naval operations only, on one ship environment. Think of all the Air Force, Army, Marine, and Coast Guard aerial mishaps in units all over the world, 24x7.
Of course, nowadays, we see and hear more about this due to the Internet.