911 caller: 'I just witnessed a Navy jet crash'
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SEATTLE -- Newly released 911 calls shed light on the terrifying last moments of an Eastern Washington plane crash that killed three crew members from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.
People who live near the crash site are used to seeing planes training in the area, but on Monday morning they knew immediately something was wrong.
When the EA-6B Prowler jet crashed in Eastern Washington, it shook homes and spread debris across an empty field. Several people witnessed the crash from the ground and called 911.
"I just witnessed a Navy jet crash west of me," one caller said. "I can see the smoke and the fire and what not. Looks like it's spread all over the place."
All three crew members died in the crash. Killed were 34-year-old Lt. Cmdr. Alan Patterson from Tullahoma, Tenn.; 26-year-old Lt. Junior Grade Valerie Delaney from Ellicott City, Md., and 24-year-old Lt. Junior Grade William Brown McIlvaine III of El Paso, Texas.
Members of Delaney's family say the aviator died doing what she loved and relentlessly pursued.
"It was right after 9-11 and my dad was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, and during his funeral we saw in the background the devastation at the Pentagon," Said Doreen Cappelaere."That's what Valerie wrote about in her admissions letter to the Naval Academy, and then it became a desire to serve her country."
The Navy is still trying to figure out what caused the plane to do down.
People who live near the crash site are used to seeing planes training in the area, but on Monday morning they knew immediately something was wrong.
When the EA-6B Prowler jet crashed in Eastern Washington, it shook homes and spread debris across an empty field. Several people witnessed the crash from the ground and called 911.
"I just witnessed a Navy jet crash west of me," one caller said. "I can see the smoke and the fire and what not. Looks like it's spread all over the place."
All three crew members died in the crash. Killed were 34-year-old Lt. Cmdr. Alan Patterson from Tullahoma, Tenn.; 26-year-old Lt. Junior Grade Valerie Delaney from Ellicott City, Md., and 24-year-old Lt. Junior Grade William Brown McIlvaine III of El Paso, Texas.
Members of Delaney's family say the aviator died doing what she loved and relentlessly pursued.
"It was right after 9-11 and my dad was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, and during his funeral we saw in the background the devastation at the Pentagon," Said Doreen Cappelaere."That's what Valerie wrote about in her admissions letter to the Naval Academy, and then it became a desire to serve her country."
The Navy is still trying to figure out what caused the plane to do down.
