The psalmist’s words this Sunday, “I was hard pressed and was falling, but the Lord helped me . . . he has been my savior," could have been uttered by two U.S. Navy jet pilots who survived a spectacular crash along with residents of a large apartment complex wiped out by the accident last Friday. The mayor of Virginia Beach, Virginia called it a "Good Friday miracle" and pilots marveled at how a failed training flight that engulfed buildings in flames managed to go down without killing anyone.

An F/A-18D Hornet suffered a massive mechanical problem while soaring above Virginia Beach last Friday, sending it plunging into the Mayfair Mews apartment complex and taking out dozens of units. All residents had been accounted for early Saturday after careful apartment checks, fire department Capt. Tim Riley said. A student pilot, his instructor, and five on the ground were hurt, but all were out of the hospital by last Saturday.

Investigators said multiple factors were at play in the surprising lack of fatalities: Most of the F/A-18D jet's fuel was dumped before the crash, causing less of an explosion; the Navy credited neighbors and citizens with pulling pilots away from the flames after they safely ejected; the plane crashed into the apartment complex's empty courtyard, and two days before Easter in the middle of the day most residents weren't home.

Source: An article by Zinie Chen Sampson for the Associated Press