Navy F/A-18 jet crash off Key West leaves 2 aviators dead
March 15, 2018 by admin
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A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet jet crashed off the coast of Key West, Florida, on Wednesday, an official told Fox News.
(WEYW TV)
Two U.S. Navy aviators died Wednesday after the F/A-18F Super Hornet jet they were flight training in crashed off the coast of Key West, Florida.
The aviators — one pilot and one weapons systems officer — ejected from the twin-engine jet, which crashed around 4:30 p.m. on final approach to Boca Chica Field at Naval Air Station Key West, the Navy said in a statement. A source told Fox News that the jet was flying back on one engine when it lost the other at low altitude.
Both crew members, based out of Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia, were taken to the Lower Keys Medical Center.
A marina owner in the Florida Keys told WPLG that the Hornet jet caught fire mid-air, then crashed.
The Super Hornet is a twin-engine fighter jet that is larger than the single-seat F/A-18 Hornet.
The Department of Defense will not identify the aviators publicly until 24 hours after their families are notified. The crash remains under investigation.
One pilot and one weapons systems officer ejected from the twin-engine jet, and search and rescue efforts are under way.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Ryan Carter)
President Trump during a roundtable at Boeing on Wednesday called the F/A-18 a work of “art,” and said that he’s working with Congress to fund 24 new jets.
The jet was from the VFA-213 Blacklions squadron. Last year, the same squadron deployed aboard USS George H.W. Bush to conduct ISIS strikes in Iraq and Syria.
US MILITARY CRASHES, COLLISIONS IN THE PACIFIC
Earlier this month, an F/A-18 from the squadron performed a rare nighttime flyover in Annapolis, Maryland, ahead of a Capitals versus Maple Leafs outdoor NHL hockey game played at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
In November, the head of Naval Aviation told Congress that only half the Navy’s 542 F-18 Super Hornet jets can fly right now and only 31 percent are fully mission capable and ready to “fight tonight.”
Fox News’ Kelly Chernenkoff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Nicole Darrah covers breaking and trending news for FoxNews.com. Follow her on Twitter @nicoledarrah.
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3 Illinois men, including one who drafted a border wall plan for Trump, charged with Minnesota mosque bombing
March 14, 2018 by admin
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Federal authorities on Tuesday charged three men from rural central Illinois with the bombing of a Minnesota mosque last year and said one of the suspects told an investigator the goal of the attack was to “scare” Muslims out of the United States.
A statement from the U.S. attorney’s office in Springfield, Illinois, says the men also are suspected in the attempted bombing of an abortion clinic. The Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, was bombed just before morning prayers on Aug. 5, causing a fire and extensive damage although no one was injured or killed. And there was an attempted bombing of the Champaign, Illinois, Women’s Health Practice on Nov. 7.
One of the men, Michael B. Hari, 47, described in an April 2017 Chicago Tribune article how he drafted a $10 billion plan to build a wall along the border with Mexico, citing President Donald Trump’s call for such a wall. Hari drew up the proposal after launching a security company, Crisis Resolution Security Services, the newspaper said.
Hari also filed a federal lawsuit just last month in central Illinois, naming the U.S. secretaries of agriculture and health and human services as defendants. It accuses their departments of violating his constitutional rights by doing the food-safety certification work that his firm, Equicert, does.
“The People of the United States have rejected the Marxist doctrine that the government shall own the means of production,” he wrote, according to the court document. He requested a court order barring federal officials from interfering with his business.
The other two men charged in the mosque bombing with Hari were identified as Joe Morris, 22, and Michael McWhorter, 29. All three are from Clarence, a rural community of less than 100 residents some 35 miles north of Champaign-Urbana. A fourth man was charged with a gun offense, but he was not identified as a suspect in the bombing or attempted bombing.
A complaint said a tip in December led authorities to investigate the three men, after a person sent the local sheriff photos of guns and bomb-making material inside Hari’s parents’ home, where Hari often stayed. In January, a second informant told authorities that the three men had carried out the mosque bombing and the failed clinic bombing, according to the complaint.
McWhorter allegedly told an FBI agent during an interview that the three rented a pickup in Champaign and drove more than 500 miles to Minnesota with a plan to bomb the mosque, according to a criminal complaint. He said they wanted to let Muslims know they are not welcome in the United States and “scare them out of the country,” according to notes taken by the FBI.
Mark Dayton called the bombing an act of terrorism when he and other officials visited the mosque the day after the explosion.
“That bombing that took place last summer was a tragedy for all Minnesotans,” U.S. Attorney Gregory Brooker said, adding that it remains a top priority for law enforcement.
Forliti reported from Minneapolis. Associated Press writer Jeff Baenen contributed from Minneapolis.