AP, CHARLESTON, S.C. – Two military jet fighters crashed off South Carolina on Wednesday, and their pilots were rescued and brought safely back to land, authorities said.
The pilots were in good condition, said Capt. Don Caetano, public-affairs officer for the Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station, where the planes were based.
“They were conducting routine training, and they had a mishap,” Caetano said.
Caetano said it was too early to know if the planes, F/A-18A fighters, might have clipped each other in the air. An investigation has been launched.
The pilots, Capt. Matthew McInerney, 29, of Glen Rock, N.J., and Maj. Breton Saunders, 37, of Orange Park, Fla., had both recently returned from missions in Iraq, Caetano said.
The U.S. Coast Guard began searching over the Atlantic after getting reports from vessels that saw flares about 8:40 a.m., said Lt. j.g. Will Whitehead of the Charleston Coast Guard Base. The two pilots were picked up by a Coast Guard helicopter and were later transported to Beaufort Naval Hospital.
“We got numerous reports from fishing vessels,” Whitehead said. “When the pilots ejected, a fishing vessel out of Edisto reported seeing a flare.”
