4 crew members safe after U.S. Navy plane crashes in Virginia

Aug. 31 (UPI) -- All four crew members bailed out of a U.S. Navy surveillance aircraft that crashed near Wallops Island, Va., and were found alive Monday, the Navy said.

The Navy E-2C Hawkeye, based out of Norfolk, Va., was flying on a training exercise, Patrick Gordon, public affairs officer at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River said in a statement.

"The E-2 crashed at approximately 4:05 p.m.," according to the Naval Air Force public affairs office. "The two pilots and two crew members bailed out of the aircraft safely through the main cabin door."

Crew members were undergoing a medical evaluation.

"The pilots and aircrew bailed out of the aircraft using parachutes located in the aircraft. The crew are required to strap on the parachutes when they get aboard the aircraft," the Navy statement said.

The Hawkeye lost altitude and crashed on a soybean field near the Wallops Island NASA flight facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore, just south of the Maryland border, according to the Shore Daily News.

The plane burst into flames on impact, the Daily News reported. Firefighters put out the blaze.

A Navy search plane, Coast Guard Helicopters and drones from the local department of emergency services helped locate the crew members.

No structures of people on the ground were hurt, the Navy said. "The cause of the mishap is under investigation," the statement added.