San Diego : Navy Board Probing Crash of F-14 Fighter

A Navy investigation board is looking into the fatal crash of an F-14 jet shortly after it took off from North Island Naval Air Station on Wednesdy.

In addition, the board of high-ranking officers will investigate why the crewman who died sank to the bottom of the ocean after ejecting from the plane, said Danny Brown, spokeswoman for the Naval Air Rework Facility at the base.

Brown said she was unaware if Lt. Mark Williamson, the radar intercept officer who died, was wearing the mandatory flotation vest.

The fighter plane took off from North Island about 9 a.m. Wednesday. Minutes after takeoff the plane pitched and nosedived into the ocean two miles south of the air base. Both crewmen ejected.

The pilot, Cmdr. Stephen Carro, was rescued by Navy divers who were in the area on a training exercise. The divers found Williamson unconscious in 40 feet of water about 10 minutes later, two of the divers, Chief Petty Officer Ted James and Lt. Dale Webber, said at a press conference Wednesday.

Williamson never regained consciousness. Carro was taken to the Navy Hospital in Balboa Park, where he is listed in stable condition.

The jet was being delivered back to its squadron at Miramar Naval Air Station after an overhaul at the rework facility, Brown said.

In an overhaul, the plane is taken apart and put back together, with whatever new parts are needed, Brown said. Navy planes receive a complete overhaul every 10 years to extend the plane’s life for an additional 8 to 10 years, she said.

“The plane is thoroughly checked and test flown before it is turned over to the squadron,” Brown said.

Although it is not known when the jet was tested, Brown said test flights are done “generally a week or days before delivery.”

She added that in 67 years of operation this is the first plane crash for the facility.