The Marine Corps jet mishap over North Charleston on Sept. 17 reminded the Lowcountry about the potential dangers of having military aircraft conducting training flights in our shared airspace.
Such incidents are hardly common, but they do occur. The Post and Courier archives reveal details from at least nine other crashes that have occurred in South Carolina since 2005. They include:
March 3, 2022: A Marine fighter jet crashes near Halfmoon Island on property owned by former Gov. Mark Sanford. The F/A-18D Hornet had just taken off from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort for a routine flight when it went down in an uninhabited section of Coosaw Plantation in Beaufort County. Both pilot and co-pilot safely eject with no injuries, and there is no damage to civilian property, authorities say.
June 30, 2020: A 32-year-old pilot dies in an F-16 jet crash during a training mission at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter. The pilot, 1st Lt. David Schmitz, was conducting a nighttime training flight exercise around midnight. He is killed after clipping an antenna during a landing and his ejector seat's parachute fails to deploy, according to Pentagon investigators.
Sept. 27, 2018: A single-engine F-35B crashes on Little Barnwell Island near Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. The pilot ejects safely. No one on the ground is injured. An investigation later blames the mishap on a failed fuel tube. The incident marks the first crash for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Afterward, the U.S. and other nations ground the entire fleet for up to 48 hours to check for faulty fuel tubes.
The NTSB released this photo of the wreckage from a 2015 collision over Berkeley County involving an F-16 military jet and a Cessna. The crash killed the Cessna's pilot and his father. File/Provided
July 7, 2015: A single-engine, two-seat Cessna plane collides with an F-16C jet from Shaw Air Force Base on a training mission over Lewisfield Plantation in Berkeley County. A father and son in the Cessna, Mike and Joe Johnson, die in the wreckage. The jet’s pilot, Air Force Maj. Aaron Johnson, parachutes to safety. A report later places blame on the air traffic controller and a lack of time for either pilot to react.
May 2, 2010: An Army Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter carrying two soldiers of the 116th Aviation Group is participating in a routine drill when it crashes on a ramp while taxiing at McEntire Joint National Guard Base shortly before 2 p.m. Both crew members are taken to a hospital. Pilot 1st Lt. Jonathan Shively, Jr, 33, of Jamestown dies from his injuries; second pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Roger Carpenter, 46, of Spartanburg survives.
March 10, 2010: A Marine Corps McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18D Hornet crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, about 35 miles east of St. Helena Sound, after a double-engine failure and fire. Both pilots eject and float in an inflatable liferaft for about an hour before they are rescued by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter.
Oct. 15, 2009: Pilot error is blamed in the fatal two-plane collision that kills an F-16 flier during a training exercise off the South Carolina coast. Air Force Capt. Nicholas Giglio dies in the crash and is faulted for the accident. Instructor-pilot Capt. Lee Bryant is able to recover safely before landing his damaged jet at Charleston Air Force Base. Both fliers had left from Shaw Air Force Base for a nighttime mission. According to the flight’s timetable, at about 10:24 p.m. the planes are returning to Shaw when Giglio performs what is described as an “improper night rejoin” that fails to properly account for the position of the other plane.
April 21, 2007: A Navy Blue Angels McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18 Hornet crashes into a residential neighborhood while performing at an airshow in Beaufort, killing the pilot. Military investigators blame the pilot for his fatal crash. A report obtained by The Associated Press says Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Davis got disoriented and crashed after not properly tensing his abdominal muscles to counter the gravitational forces of a high-speed turn.
Wreckage from the crash of an F-16 jet sticks out of the pluff mud in a marsh across from the Ashley River from the Rosemont neighborhood Tuesday, April 19, 2005. The F-16 crashed the day prior and both pilots from Shaw Air Force base ejected safely. A chemical plant is located across the river in the path of the crashing plane. File/Staff
April 18, 2005: An Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16DJ Block 50D Fighting Falcon based at Shaw Air Force Base crashes in a marsh next to the Ashley River in Charleston. The two crew members, Maj. Steve Granger and Lt. Col. Maurice Salcedo, eject safely. Both the main power and backup power failed moments before the crash, the pilot says.
