Second Marine Jet Fighter Crash in Cherry Point NC this year

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F16 Pilot

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uploaded by Wisco

The pilot's identify is not yet known. His identify has been withheld until notification of next of kin.
The Cherry Point News  and Boston Herald and The State are reporting that a Marine fighter jet crashed Monday December 29th about a mile short of a runway at an eastern North Carolina air base, killing the pilot.

The pilot was returning to the base after a training flight when his jet crashed about 12:30 p.m. in an unpopulated area. "The AV-8B Harrier jet was assigned to Marine Attack Training Squadron 203."

According to accounts no one else was hurt. There have been no reported causalities or homes damaged on the ground.

This is the second such crash this year in Cherry Point, however in the February incident the pilot wasn't injured. 

Similar incidents this year in other states are:

In May, a two-seat training model of the Harrier crashed in Arizona, but the pilots ejected safely.

Who could forget that yet another Marine jet crashed in a San Diego neighborhood near its base, killing four people on the ground (a young mother, her 2 children and their grandmother). This happened in December as well.

source : Boston Herald.com and CherryPointNews.com and theState.com