Marine Corps Harrier Jet Crashes In Arizona

Wednesday, November 28th 2007, 10:59 am

By: News On 6

YUMA, Ariz. (AP) - A Marine Corps attack jet crashed in a remote desert training area during a training flight but the pilot ejected safely, officials said Wednesday. The AV-8B Harrier wasn't carrying weapons. The cause of the crash was under investigation.

The plane crashed on the Barry M. Goldwater Range, a sprawling desert area of southern Arizona about 50 miles east of the Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, where the aircraft was based.

The pilot, whose identity wasn't released, walked into a Yuma hospital unassisted.

A base spokesman, Sgt. Robert Smith, said he had no details on whether the pilot suffered any injuries. Pilots are routinely examined by doctors after they eject, Smith said.

The Yuma base is used by Marine aviators from around the nation for training and is the world's busiest Marine Corps air station.

A Harrier crashed in a residential area near the base in 2005 but no one on the ground was hurt and the pilot suffered only minor injuries. A helicopter assigned to the base crashed in August about 20 miles north of Yuma, killing four people.