By staff and wire reports
The pilot of a Virginia Beach-based F/A-18C Hornet was killed when two aircraft collided Friday in Nevada during training, the Navy said.
The crash happened at 12:10 p.m. about 50 miles east of Fallon Naval Air Station, near Middlegate, Nev. Because family was being notified, the pilot's name was not released. The Navy is investigating the cause.
The aircraft was assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 15 at Oceana Naval Air Station. The squadron has been training in Nevada since early June, a Navy spokesman said.
The Hornet collided with an F-5 Tiger assigned to a squadron at Fallon. The two pilots who ejected from the two-seater Tiger were rescued about 50 miles east of the air station, said Zip Upham, a base spokesman. They were in stable condition and being treated for minor injuries at Banner Churchill Medical Center in Fallon.
The air station, about 60 miles east of Reno, is home to the Navy's elite Strike and Air Warfare Center. The center was formed in 1996 with the consolidation of the Navy fighter Weapons School known as "Top Gun" and the Carrier Airborne Early Warning Weapons School, or "Top Dome."
The F-5 Tiger is a Vietnam-era fighter aircraft. The F/A-18C Hornet, which was used in Operation Desert Storm, is a fighter-attack aircraft that can carry air-to-air missiles and infrared imaging air-to-ground missiles.
Travis Anderton, of Middlegate, said he had seen the two jets before the crash.
"Then I heard a crash, looked up and saw them coming out of the sky, falling," he told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "Then it was smoke and you couldn't see any more."
Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman Chuck Allen said some of the wreckage landed about a mile from a highway.
The most recent fatal crash involving aircraft from Fallon was in May 2007. Five crew members were killed when their SH-60 Seahawk helicopter crashed during a nighttime training mission in north-central Nevada about 140 miles west of Reno.
Upham, who has served as base spokesman since 2001, said that crash was the worst in recent memory. Over the previous six years, he said there had been four separate jet and two helicopter crashes, resulting in one death.
Virginian-Pilot staff writer Patrick Wilson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Patrick Wilson, (757) 446-2957, patrick.wilson@pilotonline.com
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Factoid? Wow... You really missed the big picture
Maybe these other comment writers need to reflect on what really matter here. It certainly isn't how many seats, guns, names... they remind me of a bunch of pre-pubescent boys arguing about the attributes of professional wrestlers.
Here is your factoid: Someone died. Have some decorum.
I would like to express my sympathies to family, friends and shipmates of the brave pilot who died.
F-5 differences
Factoid - The F-5E Tiger is a single seat multi-purpose fighter built by Northrop-Gruman designed specifically for medium-range, sub-sonic air intercept. In a limited role may also be used to drop conventional bombs.
The F-5F is the two seat version of the F-5E in which it employs an additional avionics package for a RADAR Intercept Officer in the rear seat.
These days, these two fighters are used primarily in the adversary/training role to hone and develop fleet fighter pilot skills.
Not necessarily
There are two seat variants of F-5's in use at Fallon. The big difference between the two is an F-5 is equipped with a nose gun, wingtip missile/tank mounts and mounting points for armament pylons. A T-38 doesn't have a gun or any mounting points, except for an AT-38, which can only carry practice bombs. Both can carry a belly tank. Otherwise, they are virtually identical.
No, it is an F-5F (2-seat) -
No, it is an F-5F (2-seat) - F-5E is a 1 seater. T-38 is similar design, but is only a trainer jet.
2-seat F-5?
Isn't a 2-seat F-5 Tiger normally called a T-38 Talon?