Off-duty Coast Guardsman rescues pilot

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - Emerging from the rubble of Friday's jet crash are incredible stories of survival.

The F/A-18D Hornet crashed in a courtyard of one of the buildings in the Mayfair Mews Apartment Complex off Birdneck Road in Virginia Beach.

And while some ran from the fire, others ran toward it. Off-duty Coast Guardsman Nick Beane was one of them.

"I didn't know what the explosions were, but I just know there were so many of them," said Beane. "It just kept rolling, and rolling, and rolling."

Beane says he had never been at the Mayfair Mews apartment complex before Friday. He was meeting up with an old friend for lunch, and happened to be standing in the next courtyard over when he heard the noise.

He ran between burning buildings, knocking on doors to alert residents to get out.

"The first corner I turned, I saw the picture everybody keeps seeing of the two engines, so I figured that was a bad idea and didn't go that way."

When Beane turned a second corner, he spotted one of the pilots, still attached to the ejection seat and a parachute, which was tangled on the roof of a building.

Beane used his knife to cut the pilot free.

"I grabbed him and said 'Hey, Lieutenant! Hey, Lieutenant!' and that's when he opened his eyes," said Beane. "He really came to and you could tell he was in shock."

Beane and two residents dragged the pilot first to the parking lot and then behind a dumpster for shelter.

"We gave him the water, and he poured the water all over his head," said Beane. "That's when the blood cleared off, and you could see the lacerations on his face, and the knot on his head was getting bigger."

Beane says the man was apologetic and kept gesturing to his wing man in the sky.

"It kind of struck me that his wing man circled for a good 15 minutes," said Beane.

And despite being called a 'hero,' Beane insists he is not. Instead, he says he acted on instinct from years of training in the Coast Guard.

He credits the residents who stepped up to help.

"I'm not trying to downplay this, I don't think I did anything," said Beane. "I helped somebody who needed help and that's all I set out to do."