San Diego

An F-14A Tomcat jet fighter working from the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson crashed into the north Arabian Sea on Monday after two crew members ejected.

The jet, from a squadron based at Miramar Naval Air Station, was the fifth F-14A lost in accidents this month. Four of the five were from squadrons based at Miramar. One of the jets crashed at Gillespie Field in El Cajon.

The jet was on a routine flight Monday when the two-man crew reported smoke and fumes in the cockpit, Lt. Cmdr. Robert Pritchard, a Navy spokesman, said. They attempted to return to the carrier but were forced to eject about 10 miles away, Pritchard said, adding that both crew members were unhurt and rescued by a helicopter from the carrier.

The Navy has no plans to ground the jets despite the recent rash of accidents, Pritchard said. Investigations of the five incidents, including the Sept. 12 crash at Gillespie Field, are continuing. In that crash, the crew apparently was unable to control the jet because its hydraulic system failed.

“We know enough to categorically state that the recent mishaps are unrelated and dissimilar,” he said. “And there is no known mechanical defect in the F-14.”

According to Navy figures, 101 of the sophisticated jet fighters have crashed since the plane was put into service in 1972. The Navy puts the “fly-away” cost of an F-14 at $33.5 million, but Defense Department budget documents for fiscal 1989 show the average cost of a new Tomcat with all the equipment and spare parts necessary to operate it is $73.3 million.