May 10, 200620 yr Piece of Navy jet that crashed off Florida washes up in Ireland NORFOLK, Va. - A tail section from a U-S Navy fighter jet that crashed three and a half years ago off Key West, Florida, has turned up 49-hundred miles away on a beach in Ireland. A retired commercial airline captain discovered the tail piece Friday. The Navy confirmed today that markings on the section, including squadron insignia and a serial number, pointed to the downed F-14 Tomcat. Currents from the Gulf of Mexico near the tip of Florida might have floated the nearly ten-foot-long triangular piece of vertical stabilizer -- one of two on the plane -- to the beach in West Cork on Ireland's southern shore. The F-14 was based in Virginia. It crashed near Key West in the Gulf of Mexico on October third, 2002, during a training mission. Both crew members ejected safely. -- The Associated Press Copyright ? 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. I have flown over the atlantic many times, and its a BIG ocean. To think that something that small floted for 3 1/2 years makes you think what else is drifting out there. The temps here in the UK today are in the lower 70s thanks to the gulf stream. What a powerfull current. What a story.
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