Investigation into Harrier crash to take months

BEAUFORT — The investigation into why an AV-8B Harrier lost engine power and crashed in Carteret County Wednesday will likely take months, a military spokesman said Friday.

Lt. Col. Curtis L. Hill said Friday that no preliminary information from the investigation is available, and he could offer no firm timetable on when the investigation would be complete.

"The time will be more than likely counted in months, not days," he said.

He also confirmed the identity of the pilot, Capt. Ian E. Stephenson, who ejected from the plane before it went down around 1 p.m. Wednesday at Open Grounds Farm east of Beaufort.

“The pilot was safe. He was able to walk away,” Maj. Shawn Haney, director of public affairs at Cherry Point, said Wednesday.

The Harrier was one of three on a training flight when the crash happened. Haney said the Cherry Point Harrier, assigned to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, lost engine power. The other two landed safely at Cherry Point.

Chris Fore, parts manager at Open Grounds Farm, witnessed the crash and said he was the first to reach the pilot.

“I let him use my cell phone. He called his wife to tell her he was OK,” Fore said. “Then he called his captain and said, I’m down, but so is the plane.’’

Fore said he saw Harriers flying over and one appeared to be laboring. Fore saw the pilot eject and saw his parachute open. The pilot landed in ground used for a corn field, about a half-mile from the main gate of the farm.

Fore said the jet struck the ground nose-down before catching fire.

An HH-46D Sea Knight rescue helicopter arrived to return the pilot to Cherry Point.

Another employee of the 50,000-acre farm, production manager Antonio Cintiluciani, said workers in a corn elevator did not hear the crash, but saw a plume of smoke afterward.

“It’s a good spot to crash because it was far from everything.” He said. “We were lucky that nothing was going on in that place.”

According to the National Weather Service in Newport, stronger storms earlier Wednesday had cleared the area by the time of the crash. Though gusts had reached 45 mph at Beaufort and 48 mph at Cherry Point Wednesday morning, Beaufort reported southwest winds at 20 mph and mostly cloudy conditions at 1 p.m. when the plane crashed.

Stephenson is attached to the 24th MEU, which is preparing for an upcoming deployment to Afghanistan. His specific squadron at Cherry Point has not been released.

The Harrier jet is a light attack aircraft with a maximum speed of 630 mph, according to a U.S. Navy Web site. It is used for close support of ground troops and has the capability to take off and land vertically, similar to a helicopter.

Records indicate the last Cherry Point Harrier crash happened in July 2006 when a Harrier assigned to the 24th MEU went down in the Mediterranean Sea during a training mission. The pilot ejected safely.

Corey Friedman and Ken Buday of the Havelock News contributed to this story, along with Freedom ENC reporters Jannette Pippin and Sue Book.