Eyewitness watched jet fall from sky

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - Jon Swain headed to work Friday afternoon at TenSix Consulting on North Birdneck Road. In just a few moments, his life changed forever.

Swain recounted for WAVY.com what he saw as the F/A-18D jet crashed into a Virginia Beach apartment complex:

"I was getting off of 264, turning left onto Birdneck Road and just as I was coming down the ramp, I saw the plane flying unusually low. It looked like it was in distress."

"It seemed to be getting lower and from the rear engines there were sort of flashes of fire. As though they were trying to either start the engines or whatever, but it was definitely coming out of the back engine part...It seems like everything was in slow motion at the time. The plane was descending very slowly and moving very slowly."

"I saw one of the crew members eject, saw that the parachute deployed and then watched him go down behind one of the buildings. As I turned onto Birdneck Road, it went lower and lower and then over a building and into what was Mayfair Mews."

"We just saw this plume of smoke starting to appear. I saw another guy running towards the building, and so I joined him thinking people might need some help."

"That was sort of the helpless part. I felt when I got there that there didn't seem to be anyone needing help. After I realized there wasn't anything much I could do, that's when I took a couple of photos and a little bit of video."
    
"When I learned that no one had died, I was absolutely amazed because you look at the damage that occurred. I could have sworn someone would have died in that. I drove off and it sort of impacted me since then really, just how surreal and how shocking the whole experience was."