US Navy aircraft found with no survivors

The crash site of a missing US Navy jet with four aviators aboard has been found, but none of the passenger’s survived the crash, US Air Force Special Operations Command spokesman Matt Durhan said today.

The wreckage was found last night, more than 24 hours after the jet failed to make its scheduled landing at Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida following a low-level bomb training mission, the Civil Air Patrol said.

Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson would not say if the jet’s passengers survived but did say a coroner was on the scene.

Wilson said the jet was found in a remote, wooded area by a Georgia State Patrol helicopter using infrared.

The jet appeared to have sustained some fire damage, Wilson said.

The search for the jet and the four aviators on board covered a swath of Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama yesterday.

Captain Lee Little, a pilot in charge of raining Wing 6 based at Pensacola, Florida, said the search area stretched from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Montgomery, Alabama, over rugged terrain. It was scaled back substantially for the night.

The Navy T-39 Sabreliner took off from Chattanooga for Pensacola.

A Navy instructor, a Navy student, an Air Force student and a civilian contract pilot were on board.

Their identities have not been released.