US Navy Fighter Jet Crashes Off Key West

KEY WEST, FL — A U.S. Navy fighter jet crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday about 20 nautical miles off the coast of Key West. The lone pilot was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard when his emergency smoke trail was spotted from the air. He was taken to Lower Keys Medical Center in good condition.

"Our pilots who were in the helicopter saw the emergency smoke signal," Chief Crystalynn Kneen of the Coast Guard told Patch. "Our pilots located the Navy pilot in the water and we hoisted him up." (Sign up for our free Daily Newsletters and Breaking News Alerts for the Miami Patch.)

The pilot, who was not identified, is attached to Fighter Composite Squadron 111, which is based out of Naval Air Station Key West, Florida. Known as the Sun Downers, the squadron is part of the Navy Reserve's fleet adversary program, providing air combat training to fleet strike fighter and Marine fighter attack squadrons, as well as U.S. Air Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard fighter squadrons.

The pilot was later released from the hospital as of late Thursday afternoon with no apparent injuries from the crash.

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"The F-5N Tiger II tactical fighter aircraft crashed into the ocean while conducting training operations off the Florida coast," officials explained, noting that the initial report of the crash was received by the Navy at 12:38 p.m.

Lt. Russell Chilcoat of Navy Reserve Forces Command said that the pilot ejected before the aircraft crashed. By Thursday only parts of the aircraft had been recovered with the remaining parts believed to have sunk to the ocean floor in approximately 3,000 feet of water.

"The Navy has no plans at this time of recovering the rest of the aircraft," Chilcoat said.

The search-and-rescue team included a Coast Guard Air Station Miami MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and an HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane.

"The pilot was already in the water when the Coast Guard got on the scene," added Kneen. She said that the rescue took place at about 1:15 p.m., which would have been about 37 minutes from the time the Navy received the initial crash report.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

A Navy fighter plane like this one crashed near Key West. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Naval Air Force Reserve