Friday, May 20, 2011

Crew Escapes Aircraft Crash at Point Mugu

POINT MUGU, Calif. (NNS) -- The three crew members aboard an Omega Air Boeing 707 tanker that crashed on the evening of May 18 from Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) Point Mugu escaped with minor injuries.

The jet was attempting to take off when the mishap occurred. The resulting fire was contained by responding units within a few hours.

Responding to the fire were two engines and three crash trucks from NBVC's Federal Fire Department, one Air Squad helicopter from the Ventura County Sheriff's Department, four engines and one water tender from the Ventura County Fire Department and one water tender from the City of Ventura Fire Department.

Omega Air Refueling is a civilian company under contract by the Navy to provide fleet operations support on Point Mugu's sea test range.

The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting an investigation into the cause of the crash.