now, naval air station on oceana is just below where this happened. if we can get that map back up to show everybody where naval air station oceana is. it will be just below where this happened. and it is an interior position for the air station itself. and it is a highly populated dense area of virginia beach. but the naval air station is roughly, you can see it here on your map. where mayfair mews. then the yellow line under that is the virginia beach expressway, 264. then a little lower down on the left-hand side, you can see naval air station oceana. so again, you can see all of the development. all of the businesses, all of the roadways leading in and out of the ocean front there in virginia beach. if i still have you on the phone, you said your son was the person who called you. where was he in this general vicinity? >> he was at a driving range not too far away. he saw the planes fly over and then saw the crash [ inaudible ]. >> we're getting a close-up now of the development there. it looks like it is a mixed communicate of town homes and apart

the crash site is along the busy interstate 264 corridor not far from the oceana naval air station. there is still no information about injuries on the ground. there is thick, black smoke still pouring from some sites of the crash. what you're seeing now of course is foam being put on the wreckage to put the fire out and stop it from spreading. witnesses report seeing the jet come down nose up. other witnesses describe huge flames minutes before a massive fire response. again, a live picture right now. you see trucks pouring foam on the crash site and you can see pretty severe damage to one of the buildings or a number, at least three of the buildings in that apartment complex. it looks like the jet may have come down right in the middle but three of those buildings look like they suffered some pretty severe damage. an f-18 hornet crashed into an apartment building. two pilots ejected. no official word on injuries. we'll bring you more information as we receive it. >>> good morning. thank you very much for joining us. i'm garvin thomas. john and marla are off today. now to our devel

this is oceana naval air station in virginia beach. it's about two miles from oceana to this apartment complex. now what we are told from the local battalion chief there is that there are about eight apartments to each building in this complex, and that at least five buildings were hit. from our own forensic view from this from the aerial footage, we know at least these four building here, one, two, three and four were hit. this one looks to be a part of a fifth one here, but crews are combing through this neckage now, getting an assessment and, please, we have to caution you the early assessments on injuries and casualties are very early in the process. they are combing through this wreckage right now. this complex on the mayfair mews complex two miles from the oceana air station from virginia beach. now we'll show you where this is in relation to the atlantic ocean to virginia beach. we'll continue playing our google earth map here, zooming back here, about a mile and maybe even less from the beach here, virginia beach and downtown v

that we watched unfold during the day happened when the training flight took off from the oceana naval air station. by all accounts it ran into trouble very quickly because it crashed into the apartment building about two miles from the runway. so the working assumption is it did not achieve significant altitude before the pilots realized they were in trouble. leading them -- forces them into an ejection potentially at very low altitude. pilots as we have talked about, very well trained to try and steer their plane away from populated areas. but these two may not have had any choice. we have the witnesses reporting flames under the plane. we have reports that fuel was coming out of the plane and the initial indications from the navy are that was not fuel dumping, but rather part of what this catastrophic malfunction may have been in the plane that led -- that led to the fuel basically flowing out of the plane. so what the navy is saying is that this was a catastrophic mechanical malfunction of some sort. they're looking for the data recorder. they're looking to pick up all the debris from there so

naval air station in virginia beach and it's a day many feared. >> u.s. navy f-18 jet crashed after take off from the naval air station oceana. >> i can hear a hit and i smelled jet fuel. >> the aircraft careened into a two-story apartment complex and then, erupted into flames. >> and outside of the window, waits blazing by. a hear p.o.w., p.o.w., p.o.w.. >> before the crash both air men managed to eject. one landed on pat's for. >> i looked out and i saw a pilot land there and bleeding from the nose, his parachute hanging from the building. i knew what happened. the jet crashed he said the shocked pilot apologized for crashing into his complex. and firefighters battled the blaze, multiple buildings were on fire, firefighters say there is massive damage. >> three buildings actually had structural collapse to them. >> shocked residents are trying to take it in this complex is just miles from the naval air station oceana. in 2005 the department of defense ruled that the base should be moved due to the danger pose bid proximity to residential neighborhoods. >> i knew one day something like this was going to happen. coming in lo

18 slammed into these virginia beach apartments just minutes after taking off from nearby oceana naval air stationremnants of the engine landed in the courtyard of the complex. the two pilots who ejected just before the plane went down were found close to the crash site. one of them had to be freed from his ejector seat by neighborhood resident nick bean. >> he was bleeding a little bit. i pulled a knife out and cut him loose from his chair and dragged him out and got him as far away as i could. >> reporter: neighbors say one pilot's parachute snagged on a building near pat cavanaugh's back porch. >> he apologized very much for hitting our complex. i told him, don't worry about it. everything's going to be fine. let's just get you out of here. >> reporter: navy sources say the plane suffered a catastrophic mechanical failure just after takeoff and began dumping fuel. chandler blake ferguson who took this picture of jet just before impact says he saw smoke and fuel pouring from the back of the plane. witnesses say it was obvious the pilots had little or no control. >> it just looked basically like

it went down just after taking off from naval air station oceana in virginia beach. it looks like it was just taking off. there were some reports it may have been dumping some fuel. we don't yet note why. right outside of the base, it went down into a residential area. there's some reports it went into an apartment building. we can't yet confirm that. but it definitely did go into a residential area with houses. there's an elementary school nearby apparently but early reports are that there are no indications any children were or that it actually hit into the school itself. both pilots ejected safely, both are on the ground. but so far, we don't net know the medical condition of either of the pilots. >> courtney hang on with us for a second. thanks for that. we have an eyewitness on the phone. larry johnson. thanks for joining us. can you tell us what you saw and what you know? >> well, i was coming out of old virginia road off of burnett and the plane, you could see smoke coming out of the exhaust. and as it was so low, it was flying so low, and i said, oh, god, man

. >> shortly after noon, we had a training flight, a 2-seat f18 hornet take off from naval air station oceanaortly after takeoff, initial indications are that that aircraft suffered a catastrophic mechanical malfunction. the specifics of which i don't want to speculate on. however, it resulted in the forced ejection of that air crew. >> so the pilots did get out with their parachutes. crews were searching the five damaged buildings looking for casualties. virginia's governor is promising immediate state assistance. >>> bay area artist thomas kinkade has died. his scenes of cottages and country gardens made him a hit with middle-brow america. he died suddenly at his home in los gatos from natural causes. his work handzusing hangs in the -- hangs in the homes of tens of millions of u.s. homes. his paintings were said to fetch $100 million in sales a year. [ male announcer ] a car is either luxury or it isn't. if you want a luxury car with a standard power moonroof, your options are going to be limited. ♪ if you want standard leather-trimmed seats, you're going to have even fewer. ♪ and if you w

the f-18 hit the complex last friday afternoon, moments after taking off from nearby naval air station oceana. officials say others cannot go into their homes yet because their units were too badly damaged. the navy is investigating the cause of the crash. it expects to complete debris removal soon. >>> today we could learn results of primary races too close to call in the district. one race actually. today the d.c. board of elections and ethics will count more than 2,200 absentee ballots. the results will determine the democratic at-large counsel race. incumbent, vincent orange, leads his challenger by 543 votes. there will be an automatic recount if the win leaders by less than 1% after absentee ballots are counted. >>> kids in fairfax county may have more time to get ready for school. the board approved a resolution, the latest step to push back the high school start time to 8:00 a.m. right now classes start at 7:20, meaning some students have to get on the bus before 6:00 a.m. the district will now look at how the changes would impact other school divisions before voting in june. one meas

at the naval air station oceana has temporarily stopped their flight operations. only about eight aircraft will launch tomorrow for destinations outside of virginia beach. outside of that, no flights will leave for the remainder of the weekend. this crash is very similar to another involving an f-18 fighter jet three years ago that crashed into a san diego neighborhood back in december 2008. that crash killed four people, including two children. back at home, we're following breaking news from prince george's county, where several busy streets have been shut down and hours preventing residents from reaching their homes. this is happening at university parkway and 23rd street and langley park. richard reeve is live at the scene. >> it is still a very active scene. that is one reason. behind me, riggs road and the university boulevard several police cars blocking part of university boulevard. the authorities are in a plaza and a building behind that, looking for a gun man in what began as an attempted robbery. for most of the evening this clause of university boulev

reporter: it went down blocks from the atlantic ocean, moments after takeoff from nearby naval air station, oceana. >> initial indications are that that aircraft suffered a catastrophic mechanical malfunction. >> reporter: wreckage of the jet scattered in the area of the complex including ejection seats used by the two pilots who received minor injuries. >> pat cavanaugh among residents that ran to help the navy fliers. >> he had blood coming out of his nose. i made sure he didn't have any broken bones. he apologized for crashing into our complex. and i chucked told him don't worry about it. we are alive and get you out of here fast as we can. >> the few injuries on the ground are believed to be minor. which is for now what authorities find remarkable given that the area is so densely populated and that most of the apartment units are usually occupied. >>> you might remember this f-18 hornet crash in san diego in a suburb, in 2008. the jet crashed into two homes. two will and end two children died. a solo pilot ejected from the aircraft before it went down. an investigation concluded poor maintena

. >> and officials say that jet was part of a training squadron at naval air station oceana.out two miles from the runway. back in baltimore county tonight, a woman is recovering after being rescued from a fire by her neighbor. these are pictures a viewer sent us there the scene in the 200 block. a fire broke out in a home there, just after 5:30 tonight. the fire then quickly spread to three other homes. the woman who was rescued is expected to be okay. and luckily, no one else was hurt. there is still no word yet on the cause of that fire. >>> and flames engulf a historic landmark that is dedicated to helping those in need in carroll county. more than 100 crews responded to this big fire in westminster. wjz has more tonight. weijia jiang has more on what they're trying to rebuild. weijia? >> reporter: the amount of debris left over is devastating. about a half million dollars worth. now the entire community is pulling together to clean up. >> reporter: it only took a few hours for a fire to demolish a carroll county landmark. >> the monitor was engulfed in flames. it was a b

has removed an engine and another piece of the jet from the complex after taking off from naval air station oceana. city officials say the plan is in the work to allow residents of mayfair mews to return to their homes, but it's unclear when. >>> police arrested this man in the home invasion of an 82-year- old woman. the charges against him include abduction and burglary. it was back in february on russell road in fairfax county witnesses say the masked man smashed a back window, the woman in bed at the time. the suspect grabbed her keys and stole her car. >>> parole denied today for mass murderer charles manson, his 12th and possibly final bid for freedom. manson is 77 years old now. he orchestrated a series of gruesome murders on consecutive nights in los angeles 40 years ago. the parole board ruled he has shown no efforts to rehabilitate himself. >>> a suspected purse snatcher is behind bars tonight because he picked the wrong we'll to mess with. annapolis police say egan e brian grabbed the purse on an outdoor -- o'brien grabbed the purse from pan outdoor cafe and the owner chased after him --

it went down blocks from the atlantic ocean moments after take-off from nearby naval air station oceana. >> it was an f-18 d. >> i looked up, and i could see the plane going straight up with no sound of engines. and then i seen it pitch over and go down. >> wreckage of the jet was scattered in the courtyard area of the complex. >> they have not had any reports from family members to say hey, my loved one is missing or anything. so that's a good thing. >> both pilots ejected safely and were taken to the hospital with only a few minor injuries. the few injuries on the ground were also believed to be minor which is now what authorities find remarkable, given that the area is so densely populated and that most of the apartment units are usually occupied. chris clackum, wbal-tv 11 news. >> an injured construction worker was rescued from a pillar in texas. the worker was working on a pillar several feet in the air. it is believed he and other workers were pouring concrete into a column when the bucket swung around. he was taken to a local hospital. there is no word on his condition. >> lawmak

the fa-18 crashed shortly after taking off from naval air station oceana naval station.