An Air Force jet trying to make an emergency landing slammed into a house, setting the home on fire, killing a 4-year-old boy and badly burning his mother.
The woman screamed "I want my baby, I want my baby" as neighbors who had saved her restrained her from going back into the burning house.Capt. Frederik G. Hartwig ejected safely after the F-16's single engine failed Thursday afternoon about 20 miles north of Pen-sa-cola. Hartwig, who was flying solo, tried in vain to reach Pensacola Regional Airport, the Air Force said.
Hartwig was supposed to be flying to Eglin Air Force Base, about 50 miles east of Pensacola, and officials did not know why he was so close to the city. The F-16 was one of 50 planes being moved from South Carolina because of Hurricane Bertha.
Firefighters found the remains of Robbin Cannon's 4-year-old son, Sean, inside the demolished home, police said.
Cannon, 30, was listed in critical condition with severe burns. Neighbors had pulled her through a window of her home.
"My wife had tried to restrain her from going back into the house," neighbor Jerry Struble said.
Linda McDonald, who works two blocks away, said Cannon kept saying "I want my baby, I want my baby."
"The guys ran back to the house to see if they could get in, but it was well engulfed," she said.
Yvonne Griffith said she was in her car at a stop sign when the jet plunged into the house less than a block away. When she went to help she saw a child inside the house as it burned, she said.
Neighbor Malissa Rodgers said she heard the plane and knew it was too low.
"The house exploded into a ball of fire and pieces of airplane scattered everywhere," Rodgers said. Some of the debris landed on her lawn.
Hartwig's Fighting Falcon was among 50 planes from the 20th Fighter Wing being flown from Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., to Eglin Air Force Base.
The dead boy's grandfather was angry that Hartwig was so far from the base.
"I don't know why he came in here over a populated area trying to land at a municipal airport when you're having engine trouble," Jim Cannon told The Miami Herald. "There's Eglin over yonder surrounded by a thousand miles of woods."
Hartwig, 35, of St. Paul, Minn., fell into a tree near the crash site about a mile from the airport. He was listed in good condition at Naval Hospital.
The Air Force said the crash was the fourth in 1996 for the F-16, one of the most heavily used U.S. military aircraft. The most recent was June 7 in Sioux Falls, S.D.
It was the 15th crash since October 1994. Of the 14 previous crashes only one resulted in a death, in Aviano, Italy.