Smoke from a crashed military plane from NAS Whidbey Island rises from a farm field  in Eastern Washington this morning. KOMO

Smoke from a crashed military plane from NAS Whidbey Island rises from a farm field in Eastern Washington this morning. KOMO

Military plane from Whidbey Island station crashes in Eastern Washington [**Updated**]

  • KOMO
  • Monday, March 11, 2013 3:38pm
  • News

By KOMO News

HARRINGTON — A military plane flying from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island has crashed in Lincoln County, and officials believe all three people on board were killed.

Lincoln County Sheriff Wade Magers said the plane went down about 10 miles outside of Harrington around 9 a.m.

He said no survivors were found, and deputies were in the process of helping cordon off the crash site while waiting for investigators to arrive.

A Department of Defense official said the aircraft was an EA-6B Prowler, a twin-engine electronic warfare aircraft that can seat four.

HaLee Walter lives nearby and said she heard a huge explosion that shook her house.

“I went outside and, of course, I could see the smoke,” she said. “The ambulance and police and fire trucks were all there, and a plane had gone down and there was still another military aircraft circling.”

A spokesman for Naval Air Station Whidbey Island confirmed that the plane came from the base, but did not have any additional information.

Stan Dammel, who manages Odessa Municipal Airport, lives in the area and heard about the crash on his police scanner. He got in his own aircraft and flew over the crash scene, which he said looked like a black ink spot on a field.

“There was no sign of an aircraft,” he said, “except there’s a pretty deep depression, a hole in the ground, and a lot of debris scattered around.”

—–

KOMO is a news partner of the Peninsula Daily News.

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