Evidence from the scene and interviews with officials and residents have revealed far more details about the Navy jet crash. The Virginian-Pilot talked to dozens of residents of Mayfair Mews to paint a fuller picture of a horrible scene, heroism and amazing survival.

____

Click one to begin

The crash, in detail

Where people were on the ground

The F/A-18D Hornet, like the one below, approaches Mayfair Mews from the southwest from Oceana Naval Air Station, a flight of less than a minute. Experiencing "catastrophic" problems, the jet passes just over the roofs of buildings on Fleming Drive.

The aircraft strikes the parking lot west of the apartment building at 1003 Fleming Circle. It leaves a large impact mark, shown below, on the ground about 20 feet from the building.

The 15-ton fighter jet crashes through the roof and upper floor of 1003 Fleming Circle. Both 1003 and 1005 Fleming Circle, once connected end-to-end, burst into flames, incur heavy damage and partially collapse.

The tail section with the plane's two massive jet engines comes to rest in the landscaped courtyard of Mayfair Mews. It is rotated clockwise from the direction of the jet's approach.

The back sides of buildings across the courtyard are set alight as they are showered with flaming jet fuel and debris from the crash. Two of them sustain heavy fire damage.

The aircraft's canopy, blown free when the pilots ejected, is found behind 1003 Fleming Drive, yards from the impact, suggesting the pilots punched out with only seconds to spare. (WVEC photo)

One pilot lands on a roof of a condo on Nighthawk Place, rolls off onto a shed and then to the ground. Witnesses say they saw his parachute on a fence in the backyard. "It was just unreal," a witness says.

____

AUDIO | 911 audio of a resident reporting that a pilot was on her patio.

One pilot is found on a walkway between two buildings. His face is bloody and he has a knot on his forehead. He is still attached to part of his ejection seat and tangled in cords from his parachute. Bystanders carry him to safety.

____

Video | Ted Laffkas describes how he and others helped rescue a pilot who ejected.
Play the video

How could anyone have survived this crash? Officials called the lack of fatalities a "miracle." Virginian-Pilot reporters interviewed dozens of residents in the apartments to piece together how they escaped from the destruction and fire.

____

Click the arrows below to flip through the names. Or click on pointers on the map.

Hit by jet, destroyed

Unit 2 Dorothea Lebrecht was in her corner, first-floor apartment reading Easter cards and admiring pictures of her grandchildren when she heard the jet's engines and then two booms. She fled her apartment after the jet crashed though 1003 Fleming Circle, adjacent to her. "I said I gotta get outta here because I've got a feeling this whole place is gonna explode."

____

Video | Dorothea Lebrecht describes the jet hitting the building and the fiery aftermath.
Play the video

Office Mayfair Mews apartment manager Earl Mawyer normally would have been working in his office on a Friday afternoon. Instead, he had just left with his young grandchildren for a long Easter weekend. He rushed back after the crash and immediately went to work helping emergency responders account for all the residents.

Hit by jet, destroyed

Unit 1 If Ben Dishner and his wife, Robin Twisdale, had been working their normal schedules, both would have been home. Instead, Dishner had delayed his lunch break (he was working at another building in the complex) and Twisdale was working an earlier shift than usual.

Unit 2 Eugene and Nancy Harrison were at the grocery.

Continued on next slide

Hit by jet, destroyed

Unit 3 Sandy Hall was at work cleaning houses. She had decided to start her day later, at about 10 a.m. instead of leaving at 8 and returning around noon, which would have had her home at the time of the crash.

Unit 4 Don Buer had slept in. He was in his pajamas and eating lunch when the familiar roar of a jet engine suddenly ceased. Buer rushed to a window upstairs in time to see the F/A-18D rip through the adjacent apartment building and burst into flames on his patio. He slipped on his pants, grabbed his wallet and ran as flames consumed the building.

Hit by jet, destroyed

Unit 1 Vacant

Unit 3 Vacant

Unit 4 Greg Milton was at work, according to his grandmother. He did not return phone calls seeking an interview.

Unit 1 Edith Kavanaugh picked a good time to move out of Mayfair Mews. She had already relocated most of her belongings to a new apartment but planned to come back Friday afternoon. She had considered coming earlier and was glad she didn't.

Unit 2 Janine Bardy was at work at the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center. Her two grandchildren, daughter and son-in-law had been visiting and staying with her but left at 10 a.m.

Continued on next slide

Unit 3 Sisters Eileen and Doreen Davidson had just returned from Lynnhaven Mall and were out for a walk. They thought they lost their cat, but it was found later.

Unit 4 Linda Morgan was at home and ran outside when she heard explosions, saw the fireball and felt its heat. She scaled a chain-link fence to get to safety.

Unit 1 Thomas Brunelle was at home.

Unit 2 (Unable to contact)

Unit 3 Louise Costenbader was home sick from work, and she decided to stay at her cousin's house, where she was dog-sitting, rather than go to her own apartment.

Unit 4 Marie Benedetto was at Kroger, where she works in the produce department. Her apartment was mostly destroyed, but firefighters retrieved her 1960 wedding album and an urn holding her husband's ashes.

Unit 1 (Unable to contact)

Unit 2 (Unable to contact)

Unit 3 (Unable to contact)

Unit 4 Daniel Beall had driven his wife, Tiffany Beall, to a job interview at Lynnhaven Marina. They'd moved in just five days earlier.

Unit 1 Esther Leiderman planned to leave her apartment around 12:10 p.m. to meet a friend for lunch. She went to her glass doors to make sure they were locked, and she saw flames and smoke. She didn't hear a boom or explosion. She called 911 but couldn't get through.

Unit 2 (Unable to contact)

Unit 3 Vacant

Unit 4 Linda Denney was working at Bank of America in downtown Norfolk. Her mother, who suffers from dementia, called and told her that her "building was on fire." She dismissed the remarks - until she saw the news report on television.

Townhouse Colby Smith was home alone, putting in contact lenses, when he heard an explosion and saw what looked like a wall of fire glowing through his bedroom window. He ran outside, where he and three other residents cut a pilot free from his parachute and carried him to safety.

Townhouse Sophie Craig, who is in her 80s, was upstairs in her bedroom polishing a gold bracelet her husband had given her one Christmas when walls and windows shook the building. She looked outside and saw plane parts falling from the sky. She ran downstairs and outside, where her neighbor Linda Warnick pulled her to safety.

Townhouse Linda Warnick was home with her two grandchildren, who were off from school. Her husband, Huey, was at work. She had just gotten out of the shower and was dressed in her favorite silk, purple bathrobe. Three explosions shook the building. She ran outside barefoot, wearing only her bathrobe, with her grandchildren, Egan and Haven.

Use the slider to compare an image from Google Maps with an aerial photo of the Mayfair Mews taken the afternoon of the crash.

____

Return to main graphic

Use your mouse cursor to pan and zoom over a detailed aerial view of the scene.

____

Return to main graphic