| Date: | 20-MAY-1987 |
| Time: | night |
| Type: |  Grumman A-6E Intruder |
| Owner/operator: | VA-85, US Navy |
| Registration: | 161685 |
| C/n / msn: | I-662 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | Stumpy Point, North Carolina –  United States of America |
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | NAS Oceana, Virginia Beach, VA (NTU/KNTU) |
| Destination airport: | NAS Oceana, Virginia Beach, VA (NTU/KNTU) |
Narrative:
A-6E Intruder BuNo. 161685/AA-501 of VA-85, US Navy, based at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach. Crashed May 20, 1987 into a heavily wooded area at a Navy bombing range at Stumpy Point. North Carolina, while on a routine night training mission. According to a contemporary press report:
“TWO CREWMEN KILLED IN JET CRASH
AP, Associated Press
May. 21, 1987 11:11 AM ET
STUMPY POINT, N.C. (AP) _ Two Navy crewmen died when their A-6E Intruder fighter jet crashed during the night in a heavily wooded area at a Navy bombing range. ”The crash crews and the Navy investigation teams are now at the scene. The area has been sealed off,” Ensign Scott Miller, a Navy spokesman in Norfolk, Va., said today
Miller identified the victims as the pilot, Lt. Bruce E. Pommer, 25, of Merritt Island, Fla., and the bombardier-navigator, Lt. James D. Hicks, 25, of Staten Island, N.Y. He did not know if the bodies had been recovered. Harry Mann, supervisor of the bombing range on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, said the jet went down in a heavily wooded area and was spotted by a helicopter about two hours after it crashed Wednesday night.
Cmdr. Jolene Keefer, a Navy spokeswoman in Norfolk, said it was not unusual for the bomber to be flying night runs.
”Sometimes we do it at night,” she said. ”This is the main bombing range for this part of the coast.” The jet was part of Attack Squadron 85, based at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, Va., she said. Mann said weather conditions were basically calm at the time of the crash.”
Both crew – Lt Bruce E. Pommer (pilot, 25, from Merritt Island, Fla) and Lt James D. Hicks (bombardier/navigator, 25, from Stalen Island, NY0 – were killed