Navy F-5 Jet Crashes Near Key West

KEY WEST, Fla. (Nov. 6, 2020) An F-5N Tiger-II from the “Sun Downers” of Fighter Squadron Composite (VFC) 111 takes off from Naval Air Station Key West’s Boca Chica Field during the last day of training before the potential bad weather resulting from Tropical Storm Eta. Naval Air Station Key West is the state-of-the-art facility for combat fighter aircraft of all military services, provides world-class pierside support to U.S. and foreign naval vessels, and is the premier training center for surface and subsurface military operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Danette Baso Silvers)

Release from NAS Key West

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ARLINGTON, Va. — A U.S. Navy F-5N Tiger II jet crashed near Key West. Florida, on May 31, the Navy said. 

Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West said in a Facebook post that the aircraft’s pilot “ejected from an F-5N aircraft approximately 25 miles from Boca Chica Field at approximately 9:20 a.m. today. A NAS Key West Search and Rescue crew launched an MH-60S helicopter and rescued the pilot, who is being transported to a Miami-area hospital for further evaluation.” 

The pilot and F-5N were assigned to Fighter Squadron Composite (VFC) 111, which is a reserve adversary squadron based at NAS Key West. Adversary squadrons provide training in combating enemy aircraft to fleet units. The Navy and Marine Corps have four such squadrons on strength.  

The Navy is investigating the cause of the mishap. 

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Richard R. Burgess, Senior Editor