Crash at Air Show Kills 2

A Navy jet crashed at the Point Mugu Air Show on Saturday, killing its pilot and navigator as thousands of horrified spectators watched. The impact shook the earth and a fireball sent heat sweeping across their faces.

No one on the ground was injured as the QF-4 Phantom peeled away from its low-flying formation and dived into a marshy area just west of the base.

Observers saw flames come from one of the jet’s engines seconds before crashing, but no cause for the accident has been determined. An official close to the investigation said a mechanical malfunction was likely to blame.

The annual air show, which in the past has drawn as many as 300,000 spectators over three days, shut down after the 12:20 p.m. crash. The events planned for Sunday, the show’s last day, were canceled.

The pilot was identified as Navy Cmdr. Michael Norman, 39, and the navigator was Marine Capt. Andrew Muhs, 31. Partners for some time, the two were assigned to Naval Base Ventura County’s weapons test squadron.

“Both were fine pilots and fine gentlemen,” said Capt. Jim Rainwater, the base’s commanding officer.

The crash occurred as the Vietnam-era jet was completing a performance along with three other fighter aircraft--two F14 Tomcats and another QF-4 Phantom. As the four jets thundered just 500 feet above the runway in a diamond-shaped formation, they began to slow down, banking to the right in preparation for landing.

That’s when white smoke and flames spewed from an engine of one QF-4. The jet wobbled out of control before slamming into privately owned wetlands that are used as a duck hunting preserve. Observers then saw a fireball burst 300 feet into the sky.

“They [the planes] were all turning, and the last one just peeled off with a big flame,” said Mike Embry of Thousand Oaks. “When I saw the flames, I knew he was going down.”

Moments before, air show announcer Gordon Bowman Jones was urging the audience to cheer on the pilots as they roared past. After the crash, he quickly called for calm among the onlookers, who were stunned as dozens of military personnel toting automatic weapons ran toward the crash site and at least six base firetrucks sped across the tarmac.

“We think the pilots are OK,” Jones told the crowd. “If you have children, try to talk to them about what they’ve just seen.”

Holding his 3-year-old daughter, Ventura resident Jerry Davis did just that. He later said he wasn’t sure how to explain the catastrophe they had just witnessed. “I told my daughter that sometimes accidents just happen. I said a little prayer to God for those guys.”

Hundreds of people raced to the runway fence line as a thick cloud of smoke curled up from the crash. Others sat numbly in their lawn chairs. Silence swept the crowd as the Sousa marches that had been blaring from loudspeakers were turned off. Even before the show was officially canceled, families walked hurriedly past dozens of concession booths and toward the parking lots.

The crash occurred two hours into the show, which features private pilots doing stunts and precision military pilots performing high-risk maneuvers. Among those who did not get to appear Saturday were the Air Force’s renowned Thunderbirds, who were to be the show’s main draw this year.

Conditions appeared ideal. The weather was clear and the temperatures cool. Officials said they were anticipating a record turnout, prompted partly by a post-Sept. 11 surge of patriotic fervor.

Security forces had been doubled since last year, with about 500 personnel checking bags and coolers as spectators filed into the show through a single entrance. Troops in full battlefield garb walked among suburbanites hauling lawn chairs and blankets.

“It’s already tense around here with all of the extra security, and then this happens,” said spectator Brandon Willard of Acton. “The weather couldn’t have been better today, but this is like a rain cloud.”

Don Lewis, the show’s director and a former Navy pilot stationed at Point Mugu, was nearly brought to tears by what he saw from the viewing stand. This was the first fatal crash in the show’s 39 years, he said.

Still, he said, tragedy comes with the territory.

“It’s an air show and this is an accepted part of the risk,” he said.

Several years ago, Norman left active duty and joined the reserves in order to try his hand at acting, said air show director Don Lewis, a friend for 15 years.

Returning to active duty, he was a Navy flight instructor in Texas before taking his position at Point Mugu.

“He was a wonderful gentleman,” Lewis said. “Ask anyone and they’ll tell you the same.”

Little information was immediately released about Muhs. His nickname as a pilot was “Mutt” and Norman’s was “Storm.”

The jet that crashed is one of a vanishing breed that was used extensively in the 1960s and ‘70s. Known then as the F-4, it is now housed only at Naval Base Ventura County. Because it is used as a training plane and as an aide in targeting the missiles tested at Point Mugu, its technical designation is QF-4, officials said.