Raleigh News & Observer
February 14, 2008
Pg. B5
From Staff Reports
A Marine Corps Harrier jet crashed Wednesday in a rural area of Carteret County, but the pilot ejected safely, officials said. The aircraft was one of three on a training flight when it lost engine power and crashed near Open Grounds Farms in the eastern part of the county.
The pilot was recovered and returned to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point near Havelock, said Mike Barton, a Cherry Point spokesman. The other two aircraft returned safely to Cherry Point.
The Harrier was part of the aviation combat element of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit based at Camp Lejeune. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
This is not the first time that a Harrier, a jet capable of taking off and landing vertically, has crashed during a training mission in Eastern North Carolina.
*In July 2005, a Harrier crashed in a wooded area near the southern end of the Pamlico Sound. The pilot ejected safely.
*In July 2003, a pilot was rescued after a Harrier crashed into the ocean off Atlantic Beach.
*In July 2002, a Harrier crashed into the Pamlico River. The pilot was rescued.
*In February 2001, two Marines died after a Harrier crashed while attempting to land at the Cherry Point airfield.

Half of India's Sea Harrier fighter fleet gone in 20 years
Half of Sea Harrier fleet gone in 20 years
KP Narayana Kumar and Rahul Chandran
New Delhi, November 26, 2007
When a Sea Harrier naval fighter aircraft crashed, killing its pilot, off the Goa coast in April, it appeared to be another tragic footnote to a string of isolated crashes involving India's fleet of combat aircraft.
Not so, if you connect the dots.
In the last three years, India, has logged at least 30 such accidents involving various fighter aircrafts. But, what was much more revealing about the April 6 crash, which killed Lt Commander Saurabh Tewari, was that it was the 16th Sea Harrier operated by the Navy to have crashed in the last two decades.
If 16 crashes doesn't seem like a big number in 20 years, consider this: these crashes have wiped out half of the Indian Navy's Sea Harrier fleet of 30 aircraft. Seven pilots, among the most elite flyers at the Navy have lost their lives in these crashes. And, every crash has happened during fairly routine sorties, as the Harrier has never seen battle since being inducted in 1983.




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