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On his Facebook page, the photographer wrote, "F18 descending over birdneck road just before it crashed. Taken on hwy 264 while it passed me. Jet was dumping fuel everywhere and blowing white smoke out."
Credit: Chandler Blake Ferguson
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO - Virginia Beach Navy Jet F18 Crash and burning apartments
Credit: Kathy Mateer/Facebook
Credit: Jon Swain/YouTube
The two aviators were able to eject from the jet before it crashed. They were being treated for injuries that were not considered life threatening.
Credit: Peter J. Casey/CBS News
Chandler Blake Ferguson was driving on I-284 when he witnessed the plane crashing.
Credit: Chandler Blake Ferguson
Emergency responders at the crash site of an F/A-18 Hornet after the jet crashed into an apartment building in Virginia Beach, Va. on April 6, 2012.
Credit: Ross Grogg/Twitter
Jefferson Lucas Quitazol wrote that he took this picture three minutes after the accident. The jet crashed about 200 feet away from where he lives.
Credit: Jefferson Lucas Quitazol/Facebook
Credit: AP Photo
The burning fuselage of an F/A-18 Hornet lies smoldering after crashing into a residential building in Virginia Beach, Va., April 6, 2012.
Credit: AP Photo
Two aviators were able to eject from the jet before it crashed. They were being treated for injuries that were not considered life threatening.
Credit: Colin Mackay
Smoke rises from the crash site of an F/A-18 Hornet after the jet crashed into an apartment building in Virginia Beach, Va., Friday, April 6, 2012.
Credit: Colin Mackay
Credit: Emily Foster/Facebook
Smoke rises from the crash site of an F/A-18 Hornet after the jet crashed into an apartment building in Virginia Beach, Va., Friday, April 6, 2012.
Credit: CBS/WTKR
Branden Sherman was able to photograph the chaos near the crash site.
Credit: Branden Sherman/Facebook
The scene from outside the apartment complex where a Navy F/A-18 Hornet crashed in Virginia Beach, Va.
Credit: Chris Morgan/Facebook
The two aviators were able to eject from the jet before it crashed. They were being treated for injuries that were not considered life threatening.
Credit: Colin Mackay
This is an overhead view of the site of the fighter jet crash, before the accident.
Credit: Google Earth
A US Navy official says a jet may have crashed due to a "catastrophic mechanical malfunction".
The F/A-18 Hornet had just left Naval Air Station Oceana after noon on Friday when it crashed into the Mayfair Mews apartment complex, Captain Mark Weisgerber said during a news conference.
Weisgerber, with the Strike Fighter Wing Atlantic, said an initial investigation indicates that the crash was mechanical in nature, due to reports from people on the ground about a fuel spill.
A student pilot and an experienced pilot were aboard the two-seat jet, Weisgerber said. Both were safely ejected from the plane before it struck. The student pilot was seated in the front and the experienced pilot was in the back seat, Weisgerber said.
Four people, including the two pilots, were transported to the hospital, according to Marc Davis, a Virginia Beach spokesman. Their injuries are considered minor.
The crash happened in the Hampton Roads area, which has a large concentration of military bases, including Naval Station Norfolk, the largest naval base in the world. Naval Air Station Oceana, where the F/A-18D that crashed was assigned, is located in Virginia Beach. Both pilots were from Virginia Beach, Weisgerber said.
Weisgerber said he did not know how many times the student pilot had been in the air, but the instructor was "extremely experienced."
Joseph said the airman being trained would have had 1 ½ years of intensive training before he taking flight from Oceana.
"This is not a student naval aviator. They are well-trained," he said.
Sources: CBS News, Associated Press writers, Youtube.
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