Virginia: F-14 drops fuel near homes by Fentress; cause undetermined

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"Troy Snead, a spokesman with Naval Air Station Oceana, said an incident like this hasn't occurred in recent memory."

Virginia: F-14 drops fuel near homes by Fentress; woman sickened by smell

BY LOU MISSELHORN, The Virginian-Pilot

Copyright 2000, Landmark Communications Inc.

CHESAPEAKE -- A Navy fighter practicing touch-and-go landings Tuesday night at Fentress Naval Auxiliary Air Field dumped jet fuel into nearby neighborhoods, leaving a foul odor that made at least one person sick and prompted a military investigation.

The Navy sent a three-person environmental team into the area Wednesday to investigate a half-dozen complaints from residents, who noticed a film on cars and a foul smell in the air for more than an hour.

One woman, Kimberlie Keffer, 42, said she went to the hospital suffering from shortness of breath and nausea.

``My health is the concern, at this point,'' said Keffer, who lives on Maxwell Street. ``I think we deserve an explanation for how this happened and how they plan to prevent this from happening in the future.''

It may be several weeks before the Navy knows why the plane spilled the fuel and how to avoid future problems, but it doesn't appear as if there is any residual damage to the environment, said Capt. William C. ``Skip'' Zobel, commanding officer of Oceana Naval Air Station, which oversees the Fentress field. He estimated that the jet had dropped about 150 gallons of fuel.

Pilots have the ability to drop fuel from the F-14's 2,500-gallon tank if they lose power and need to lighten their load, but those situations normally take place at altitudes of at least 6,000 feet and are done over the ocean -- not over neighborhoods, Zobel said.

The jet was practicing landings at Fentress as part of a process that qualifies pilots to deploy with an aircraft carrier.

``We regret anything that might have happened on the ground,'' Zobel said. ``It's not a standard practice to dump fuel.''

The spill occurred about 9 p.m., Zobel said, just as the Tomcat had finished an approach to a runway, had risen to an altitude of 800 feet and prepared to come back around to conduct a touch-and-go landing.

The F-14, part of Fighter Squadron 41, known as ``The Black Aces,'' apparently leaked fuel for about 15 to 20 seconds as it flew over the neighborhoods on the still night, Zobel said.

Complaints came from Doolittle Avenue, Maxwell Street, Wenger Road and Murray Drive, Zobel said.

Troy Snead, a spokesman with Naval Air Station Oceana, said an incident like this hasn't occurred in recent memory.

Zobel said his office receives four or five calls a year from residents complaining of fuel odors, but he said those calls are the result of jet exhaust that is pushed to the ground by air currents. Leonard Bergey, president of Bergey's Dairy Farm, said he could smell the fuel at his Wenger Road home even with the doors and windows closed.

``This was really bad,'' he said. ``It smelled like a mix of kerosene and diesel fuel.'' Bergey said he is concerned about the long-term effect of the spill on his cows and the crops he raises for animal feed, but added, ``That would be a long stretch.''

A worker at Bergey's, Dorothy Lahman, said she had to go to her doctor's office to receive treatment for her asthma irritated by the odor.

``It feels like I have an elephant on my back,'' said Lahman, who lives on New Land Road on the south side of the air station.

Mark Mellblom, who lives in Virginia Beach about two miles away from Fentress and five miles from Oceana, said he smelled the odor Tuesday night and on at least two other occasions in the past six months.

Even if spilled fuel isn't to blame for the other incidents, he said, he thinks the State Department of Environmental Quality should investigate the problem. He said he wrote an e-mail message to state Del. Terrie Suit, asking her to look into the matter.

http://www.pilotonline.com/military/ml0210fue.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 17, 2000


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