F-18s collide, fall into Columbia River at Arlington

The Enterprise

Two Marine F-18 jets collided in mid-air over the Columbia River near Arlington, Ore., on Wednesday, July 21.

Two of the three airmen involved lost their lives.

The incident took place between Roosevelt and Arlington, and involved F-18s reported to be on a low-altitude training flight to the bombing range in Boardman, Ore.

One of the aircraft was an F-18C, a single-seat aircraft. The other jet was an F-18D, which crews two. Both jets came out of the Portland Air National Guard Base at Portland International Airport.

The two crew members of the F-18D lost their lives in the accident, while the F-18C pilot, U.S. Marine Maj. Craig Barden, 38, parachuted out and suffered only minor injuries.

Barden was treated and released at Mid-Columbia Medical Center in The Dalles.

Deceased at the scene were Maj. Gary Fullerton, 36, of Spartanburg, S.C., and Capt. Jeffrey Ross, 36, of Old Hickory, Tenn. Both were U.S. Marine reservists.

The collision, which occurred at approximately 2:30 p.m., sent both planes into the Columbia River.

The jets exploded after impact, according to a man who assisted in the rescue.

"It was something you never thought you'd see and something you never want to see again," said Marty Donnell of Donnell Plumbing in The Dalles.

Donnell was doing ground work at a job site in Arlington on Wednesday afternoon when he heard a thunderous boom.

"I looked up and one of the planes was pretty well intact with a bit of tail end missing," said Donnell. "The other one was in pretty bad shape, after the initial hit it kind of exploded again as it was falling."

One of the victims came down close to the Washington shore of the river.

"We had one of the victims who did not survive brought onto our bank, as well as a lot of debris," said Klickitat County Sheriff Chris Mace.

Mace said investigators closed down the Roosevelt park and boat ramp, as well as a tribal in-lieu site, to search for debris and to stage for the recovery of the aircraft.

The closure was expected to last several days. As of Monday, the wreckage had not yet been removed from the river and the public sites remained closed.

According to Mace, a local windsurfer saw one of the downed pilots in the water and helped him out of the river.

"When he got him to shore, he realized he was already gone," Mace said. "They sustained some pretty severe injuries in the collision. It was a sad, sad thing. On behalf of the Klickitat County Sheriff's Office, our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the airmen who were lost."

Donnell said he didn't see the actual mid-air crash, but he saw the planes fall and watched two of the three airmen parachute to earth.

"There was never a fully deployed third parachute," Donnell explained.

Donnell and some of his co-workers took off to locate the parachutist they saw coming down. They found the pilot in a field about a mile due west of Arlington High School off Main Street, in fairly good condition and talking.

"Apparently, when he first landed he tried to get up and walk, then he saw some people coming and sat back down," explained Donnell. "Part of his shoe blew off -- the bottom of the sole was completely missing. He had scrapes on his shin and was complaining of a little bit of knee and lower leg soreness."

According to Donnell, the surviving pilot said he never saw the other aircraft, and thought there was a mechanical failure of some kind.

"But he was real aware of the situation once [the jet] started going down," Donnell added. "He wanted to be clear of everything [before ejecting]."

Arlington Realtor Shelly Scott also went to the pilot's aid.

"He was joking and laughing with the EMTs," she said. "One of the guys said he should keep the parachute for a souvenir."

Given the recent high temperatures and dry conditions, Sheriff Mace said the accident could have had even more devastating results.

"It happened right there between Roosevelt and Arlington, right across the river from each other, and the fire issue certainly could have been worse. And we're lucky no one on the ground was hit," Mace said. "But it was bad enough."

Deputies called to respond repeatedly asked the dispatcher if they had any information about the ordinance the jets were carrying. With a bombing range nearby, law enforcement officials were at first concerned about bombs that could possibly explode.

"You have to worry about the weaponry on the plane," Mace pointed out.

However, according to Capt. Braibish, of the Oregon National Guard, the planes were not carrying any live ordinance at the time of the collision.

Mace said he was pleased with the emergency response from the different agencies.

"It went very smoothly once we realized we had all three airmen accounted for," Mace said. "We put our marine boat out there and retrieved a lot of debris from the river."

Maintenance crews with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deployed absorbent booms around the powerhouse intakes and fish ladders at John Day and The Dalles dams to prevent oil, jet fuel, or hydraulic fluids from contaminating the dam facilities.

Cleanup crews were working to remove debris and oil from the river, and the public was urged not to touch or collect any debris. Anyone finding debris from the aircraft is requested to contact local law enforcement agencies.

Mace praised the response from the community.

"Riverview Mini-Mart in Roosevelt stayed open late for us so we could get water down to the people working," Mace explained. "They even loaned me a cooler to make sure we could get enough water and ice for the guys. It was hot down there."