Just coming over the AP wire ... a Navy EA-6B crashes in eastern Oregon --- the graphic showed Umatilla County --- where the old Boardman bombing range was located and several low level routes begin/terminate ..... initial report said "all four crewmen ejected" ....
Follows .....
Navy plane crashes in Oregon, four escape, officials say
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PENDLETON, Ore. -- A Navy jet crashed in the remote northeastern corner of Oregon during a routine training mission Friday but all four crew members on board survived, officials said.
The EA-6B Prowler from the Naval Air Station at Whidbey Island crashed north of Pendleton near the Washington state border just before 11:30 a.m., according to the Navy and Umatilla County officials in Pendleton.
All four crew members ejected safely, said Kimberly Martin, a Navy spokeswoman at Whidbey Island, near Seattle.
The cause of the accident was under investigation.
The plane was flying at low altitude but there is "not typically anything in the area that perhaps it would have hit," said Cheryl Seigal, spokeswoman for the Umatilla County sheriff's office.
Training runs by military aircraft are common in the area, Seigal told Northwest Cable News in Seattle.
A Navy Web site says the EA-6B Prowler was first stationed at Whidbey Island in 1971 and deployed to Vietnam in 1972.
The electronic warfare plane carries a pilot and three tactical crew members who can jam enemy radar and communications while providing countermeasures to defend against radar-guided guns and missiles, according to the Naval Historical Center site.
In November 2001, a Prowler jet flown out of Whidbey Island crashed on the Olympic Peninsula, followed a week later by the similar crash of a Prowler flown by Marines out of Cherry Point, N.C. Both crews ejected safely and suffered only minor injuries.
A Navy investigation found that the crashes were caused by a defective bearing in the right engine that years earlier had been recommended for redesign.
Follows .....
Navy plane crashes in Oregon, four escape, officials say
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PENDLETON, Ore. -- A Navy jet crashed in the remote northeastern corner of Oregon during a routine training mission Friday but all four crew members on board survived, officials said.
The EA-6B Prowler from the Naval Air Station at Whidbey Island crashed north of Pendleton near the Washington state border just before 11:30 a.m., according to the Navy and Umatilla County officials in Pendleton.
All four crew members ejected safely, said Kimberly Martin, a Navy spokeswoman at Whidbey Island, near Seattle.
The cause of the accident was under investigation.
The plane was flying at low altitude but there is "not typically anything in the area that perhaps it would have hit," said Cheryl Seigal, spokeswoman for the Umatilla County sheriff's office.
Training runs by military aircraft are common in the area, Seigal told Northwest Cable News in Seattle.
A Navy Web site says the EA-6B Prowler was first stationed at Whidbey Island in 1971 and deployed to Vietnam in 1972.
The electronic warfare plane carries a pilot and three tactical crew members who can jam enemy radar and communications while providing countermeasures to defend against radar-guided guns and missiles, according to the Naval Historical Center site.
In November 2001, a Prowler jet flown out of Whidbey Island crashed on the Olympic Peninsula, followed a week later by the similar crash of a Prowler flown by Marines out of Cherry Point, N.C. Both crews ejected safely and suffered only minor injuries.
A Navy investigation found that the crashes were caused by a defective bearing in the right engine that years earlier had been recommended for redesign.
There's always time to check Airwarriors, right?! :icon_tong