On a cold gray morning in late March, a National Guard F-16 crashed at Camp Grayling's Range 40. The pilot, who ejected and escaped serious injury was Capt. Douglas Cligrow, of London, Ohio. He is a member of the 178th Fighter Wing in Springfield, Ohio.
As of this writing, from news accounts, the crash occurred within a half-mile of County Road 612. Dan Alstott, president of the Au Sable Manistee Action Council, said that would place the crash within a mile of KP Lake, a residential lake about three miles west of Lovells.
Alstott is quoted as saying: "It was just a matter of time. I'm pretty upset about it. These guys come in and they're fully armed, and they're flying within a half mile of residences at Guthrie Lake. They drop live 500-pound bombs and it's a very dangerous and a very inappropriate operation."
Ronald Schwarz, a Maple Forest resident whose property backs into Range 40, the site of the live-fire exercises that day, is quoted as saying: "This pilot was very lucky there was a clear, unpopulated area to ditch the plane. This range is too small for the type of weaponry they are using. The results could be catastrophic."
The crash was the second serious accident at the base in two years. In July, 1994, a shell from a cannon landed about thirty feet from a Guthrie Lake home, also near County Road 612. Shrapnel from the shell damaged the home, but there were no injuries.
Bill Reetz, who lives on KP Lake is quoted as saying: "They're flying over continuously. In the summer, it gets really bad sometimes because they come in close and the windows sort of shake when they come by."
Duane Wallace, a resident of County Road 612, is quoted as saying: "Boy, those things are noisy."
There are an estimated 5000 flights a year over Range 40.
An editorial in the Traverse City Record-Eagle, commenting on the crash and critical of the high tech dangers posed by Camp Grayling, ended with the following observations:
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