The Region - News from Sept. 25, 1987

Aircraft and boats searched the water around Catalina Island for a Navy pilot missing in a late-night crash of an A-6E Intruder attack jet. The navigator ejected and was rescued. The jet had taken off from the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and was en route to its home base at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, Wash., when it went down, the Navy said. The missing aviator is Cmdr. Loyd Sledge, 40, of Coushatta, La. The navigator, Lt. John A. Morrison, 27, of Seattle was rescued by a helicopter crew and hospitalized for a dislocated shoulder and elbow. The cause of the crash was not known and the investigation may take several months, the Navy said.