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Mayfair Mews residents share vivid memories of last year’s Navy jet crash

Posted at 7:19 PM, Mar 29, 2013
and last updated 2013-03-29 19:19:31-04

Virginia Beach, Va. - It was last Good Friday that a jet crashed into the Mayfair Mews Apartments.

Nearly a year later, the scars from that day still haunt people who live there.

Michael Moody will never forget the crash.

“I just saw a big orange flash. It seemed like the ground moved up and down real quick,” says Moody.

The memory is so vivid, it's almost as if the thought of the jet crash stings Moody's five senses.

“The heat was so intense, I couldn't get in the house fast enough,” says Moody.

No one died and even more miraculous, nobody was seriously hurt.

Yet all Good Fridays are ruined from here on out for Moody.

“It's not good to me,” says Moody.  “It's just kind of stuck in my mind that this is a bad day. But then again, I try to change my mind and where I'm thinking it's a good day because nobody died. I got to see my 66th birthday.”

Life is back to normal for Moody, minus the split seconds of fear when he hears the jets roar.

“When I see the planes come across, especially when they're coming this way or they're real loud, it kind of gets to me,” says Moody.

The jets don't bother Joan Coleman, not much does.

“I'm 80-years-old. I lived through the war, the Blitz in London, I've lived through stage 5 melanoma, and then I've lived through this. So why at 80 am I still here?” asked Coleman.

She has a bit of guilt.

She could complain about how her once beautiful view is now an empty field after the jet tore down an apartment building.

But she had a place to come home to, an option many of her neighbors didn't have.

“Every day is amazing. It's a miracle,” says Coleman.

Click here to read NewsChannel 3's full coverage of the jet crash.