SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Two military pilots parachuted safely into the San Diego Bay Wednesday morning after ejecting from an E/A-18 G Growler jet that eventually crashed into the water near Shelter Island. Nearby fishermen pulled them into their boat less than a minute later.
“You’ve only got a second or two to make that decision that the airplane, for whatever reason, is not flying anymore,” said Earl Wederbrook, a retired Marine Colonel.
Wederbrook trained Navy pilots for almost 30 years on how to fly planes like the Growler. He says this is generally a very reliable plane, and something had to go very wrong for the pilots to eject.
“By nature, pilots are going to stay in the airplane as long as they can to save it. That’s the way most guys are. If they perceive there’s any danger to the local population, they’re going to do their absolute best to point the airplane in the right direction before they make that decision," he says.
Twenty-four hours later, that plane was still in the water. The Navy is rushing to retrieve it and avoid any environmental impact, but Thursday's cloudy and windy weather delayed their efforts.
So far, they've put up an orange barrier to prevent the jet fuel from spreading into the ocean and blocked off part of the water from boaters.
“When you're looking at oil, contaminants like that, microplastics, they're all going to float,” said Joe Dolin, the President of EcoSafe Technologies. “And when they float, they're able to be contained by a barrier like that.”
Joe Dolin's company works to remove contaminants in the water after oil spills.
“Some of it will actually be emulsified in the water over time, which is really the problem,” Dolin said. “If oil and contaminants like that are in the water for more than seven consecutive days, you have ecological damage that’s irreversible. So, you need to respond quickly.”
Members of the military worked on Kellogg's Beach Thursday to pick up broken pieces of the plane that washed on shore. The Navy warned others to avoid touching or collecting that debris because it could be hazardous.
ABC 10News was still waiting for the Navy to confirm what caused this crash as of Thursday night.
That investigation could take up to a year.
