Air Force Grounds Stealth Fighter Fleet After Crash

At a loss to explain the spectacular air show crash Sunday of an F-117A in a Baltimore suburb, the Air Force on Monday grounded its fleet of stealth jet fighters until investigators can provide some clues about what went wrong.

Military officials said the probe was focusing on the aircraft’s left wing, parts of which broke away moments before the plane plummeted to the ground.

“This is one we’ve certainly never seen before,” said Brig. Gen. Dennis R. Larsen, commander of the 49th Fighter Wing at New Mexico’s Holloman Air Force Base, home for the nation’s 52 remaining stealth fighters. “The F-117 has never had a problem like this.”

As investigators from the Air Force and the plane’s manufacturer, Lockheed Martin Corp., began examining the wreckage, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen praised the aircraft’s pilot for “courage and competence” in avoiding what could have been “a much larger disaster.”

The pilot, Capt. Bryan Knight, told a witness Sunday he tried to steer his crippled jet out to sea, waiting until the final seconds before bailing safely out of the aircraft. No one was killed, though several people suffered minor injuries as the jet broke up and crashed into a house and several smaller structures.

Knight, a flight instructor, spent the night under medical observation at Andrews Air Force Base and was released Monday.

In the meantime, 15 to 20 families ordered evacuated by Air Force authorities from the crash area Sunday scrambled Monday to put their lives back in order. Military authorities were unable to say how long the neighborhood would remain off-limits.

Damage was surprisingly limited, Baltimore County firefighters said. One house, a shed, a garage, two cars and a pickup were destroyed by fire, with exterior and smoke damage to a few other structures.

The Air Force has featured the plane in more than 200 air shows in recent years. Larsen said the plane that crashed was produced in 1981, which made it one of the oldest in the fleet.

“Only four or five are older than that,” he said, but added that he knew of no unusual problems with the plane before the crash.

The general said the jet fighters will not resume flying until investigators determine which parts broke off the crashed jet, indicating to Air Force maintenance crews where to conduct inspections on the other planes.