Military Jet's Impact in San Diego Bay Caught in Shocking Footage
The terrifying moment of impact when a U.S. military fighter jet nosedived and crashed into the San Diego Harbor was caught in newly-surfaced video. And given the severity of the crash, it's incredible that neither of the two pilots nor any bystanders were hurt.
The two-seat EA-18G Growler electronic warfare jet went down at 10:17 a.m. on Wednesday morning off the shore near Shelter Island; a neighborhood which sits across the bay from Naval Air Station North Island. In the footage, the aircraft could be seen hurtling towards the water before making a 45-degree impact in just seconds, sending a giant splash of water and plume of smoke into the air.
"The plane hit the water, and there was an explosion. A lot of black plumes, and then it just like got sucked into the water. And within 15 seconds, there was nothing," one witness told CBS 8 San Diego, adding that she didn't wish it on anybody to witness such a scary moment.
Another angle of the crash that surfaced in surveillance footage Wednesday afternoon showed the jet going down over some nearby structures.
Both pilots ejected just moments before the crash, and Navy officials confirmed that they had been rescued by a nearby finishing boat within a minute of landing in the water. They were subsequently transferred to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air Marine Operations vessel and taken to U.C. San Diego Medical Center in stable condition for further evaluation.
The captain of the fishing boat, Brandon Viets with Premier Sport Fishing, told Fox 5 San Diego that the jet crashed within a quarter mile of where they recused the pilots, and that it just narrowly avoided hitting their fishing boat with 12 passengers on board, as well as nearby homes and businesses on the coastline.
'I was thinking that's a funny maneuver they're doing because from time to time they do fly and it just sounded weird, and then once we saw two parachutes with dots underneath, we decided to turn the boat and head right to them and help them out," Viets recalled. "The pilots seemed to be okay and coherent when we brought them on board and then they got taken off and given first aid."
Another fisherman aboard the boat, Colin Casper, said that the pilots seemed shaken up, but they were aware of their surrounding and what had happened. "I looked over and saw the jet flying without pilots, without the cockpit on it," he added.
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