Navy Jet Hits Atlanta-Area Apartments; Toll Unknown

A Navy jet fighter crashed into a suburban apartment complex when attempting to land Thursday evening, starting a huge fire and seriously injuring several people, including the pilot, who ejected moments before impact.

Authorities were continuing to search for possible victims in the burned-out apartment buildings in suburban Smyrna, Ga., a community about 15 miles northwest of Atlanta.

One local television report said that at least one person died in the crash of the A-7E Corsair II, but officials said they could not confirm any deaths by late Thursday night.

Some, however, feared the worst as firefighters doused the massive fire and prepared to search the rubble.

“We don’t know yet what’s underneath all that debris,” said Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon, who rushed to the Pine Village Apartments in densely populated Cobb County.

The crash, the latest in a string of military accidents, occurred at about 6:30 p.m., when many residents of the complex were returning home from work. The plane, attached to a Navy Reserve squadron at nearby Dobbins Air Force Base, apparently lost power as it approached the base for landing, according to witnesses.

The crippled plane resembled “a black shadow,” area resident Dean Tuck said. “It was in a swoop, and it was coming down in an arc. Then, I saw a white flash. I saw the flames shooting up and black smoke, and I knew the plane was going down.”

Several people in the area said they had heard loud noises before the crash and that the plane exploded before impact.

“When I went outside, I saw a ball of fire heading toward the ground,” said Terry Scott. “After the second or third explosion, the pilot ejected himself from the seat” about 100 feet from the ground. “When I got to the pilot to give him CPR, he had multiple contusions and was bleeding profusely from the nose and mouth.”

Witnesses and police said that the plane crashed onto a parking lot, then hit three of the complex’s frame buildings, spilling fuel and igniting blazes that engulfed the buildings and several automobiles. Flames shot 100 feet into the air, and rush-hour traffic was snarled.

The pilot, a civilian airline pilot who was not immediately identified, was taken to a hospital, where he underwent surgery. Some victims were badly burned but were expected to survive, officials said.

Firefighters brought the blaze under control in about three hours. The area around the crash site was cordoned off, and officials prepared to work through the night, saying that they hoped to complete their search when daylight and diminished heat from the fire make the task easier.

Lt. Cmdr. Jim Lawrence of the Naval Reserve, a friend of the pilot, told the Associated Press that he had flown the same plane earlier Thursday on a separate training mission.

Lawrence said it was in “beautiful” shape at the time. He said he didn’t have any idea what might have caused the crash.

The A-7E, which entered service as the A-7 in the 1965, is a single-seat attack aircraft used for a variety of bombing missions on land and at sea.

The current version has undergone a number of modifications. The A-7E has a 20-millimeter gun and can carry up to 15,000 pounds of bombs and missiles.

Navy spokesman Kerry Honore said the plane that crashed was not carrying ammunition.

Before Thursday night’s crash, the Navy had documented 101 “operation and training-related fatalities” this year, including 47 by a gun turret explosion aboard the battleship Iowa on April 19, six in a fire aboard the supply ship White Plains on May 9 and two in a fuel pump explosion and fire aboard the aircraft carrier America on May 14.

A more recent string of accidents included one on Oct. 25, when a boiler room explosion aboard the oiler Monongahela injured nine. On Oct. 29, five were killed in the crash of a training jet aboard the carrier Lexington.

On Oct. 30, a sailor was washed overboard from the carrier Carl Vinson and is presumed dead. That same day, a Navy pilot dropped a 500-pound bomb on the guided missile cruiser Reeves in the Indian Ocean, injuring five sailors and blowing a five-foot hole in the ship’s bow. On Oct. 31, three sailors were washed overboard from the aircraft carrier Eisenhower. Two were recovered but one is presumed dead.