Navy Jet Crashes In Ocean Off San Diego
Two Pilots Rescued

POSTED: 11:07 am PST March 29, 2004
UPDATED: 1:04 pm PST March 29, 2004

A Navy F-14 Tomcat crashed into the ocean off the coast of San Diego,
NBC 7/39 reported.

The U.S. Coast Guard reported that two aviators were rescued by a
civilian fishing boat. The pilots were then transferred to a Navy
vessel, which brought them to North Island Naval Air Station. They
were taken to a base hospital for evaluation, and their conditions
were not immediately known.

Steve Fiebing, the public affairs officer for the Navy, said the
aircraft went down shortly after 11 a.m., about three miles off the
coast. Officials said that the F-14 went down after taking off from a
locally-based aircraft carrier. The plane was heading back to North
Island when it went down.

Witnesses told NBC 7/39 that they could hear two loud explosions from
the Sunset Cliffs area. Milo Vaughs said that after the explosions, he
looked up and saw other people pointing out to sea. He was not able to
see anything, however.

An investigation into the crash is under way. The Coast Guard said
that it had a 41-foot vessel on the scene assisting in recovery
operations. Military authorities established a one-mile perimeter
around the crash site to prevent boaters from interferring with the
investigation.

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/2957980/detail.html