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Pilot Killed After Jet Used In Navy Exercises Crashes In Oxnard

OXNARD (CBS) — A jet making its way to Point Mugu Naval Air Station crashed in Oxnard Friday, killing the pilot on board, authorities reported.

The Federal Aircraft and Aviation department received reports at 12:15 p.m. of a plane down at Laguna and Protero roads, near Cal State University Channel Islands.

The aircraft is a Hawker Hunter jet registered to Airborne Tactical Advantage Company, a company contracted by the Navy to provide adversary support for fleet exercises off the California coast.

"It's a civilian-contracted airplane to the Navy, and it was a former military pilot," Naval Base spokesman Vance Vasquez told KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO. "These are not current military airplanes and/or aircraft that are owned by the Navy."

The plane was returning back to Point Mugu from a mission and crashed into an unpopulated area of Oxnard.

The pilot, a former Navy serviceman, was the only passenger aboard.

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