Virginia Beach , Virginia ( CNN ) -- Emergency calls highlight the confusion in a Virginia Beach , Virginia , neighborhood after a Navy fighter jet crashed last week , with one woman reporting that a pilot was on her patio awaiting medical aid . Authorities released recordings of the calls on Monday , three days after the F/A-18 Hornet slammed into an apartment complex about two miles from the naval air station where it took off . `` Nobody 's here , and I keep calling and there 's no ambulance , '' one woman told a 911 dispatcher from her condominium a few blocks from the crash site . She said one of two fliers who ejected from the stricken warplane was outside , that he was conscious and that she had already called for help . `` He 's still on my patio , but they told me to evacuate , and there 's other guys there helping him , '' the unidentified woman says . `` My neighbor 's there helping him . '' Seven people , including the two-person crew of the Hornet , were injured when the aircraft crashed into a Virginia Beach apartment complex on Friday . But there were no fatalities , a fact that Adm. John Harvey called a `` miracle '' over the weekend . `` A Navy plane just went down on 24th Street , '' a man says in another call to dispatchers . `` It hit an apartment complex and I saw the , um , the pilot bail out . The pilot did bail out -- I saw it -- but it hit the apartment complex . '' The aircraft experienced a `` catastrophic mechanical malfunction '' during takeoff from Naval Air Station Oceana on Friday , raining jet fuel over Virginia Beach before plunging to the ground , according to residents and Navy officials . It landed upright and in flames in the middle of the courtyard of the Mayfair Mews apartment complex , setting five surrounding buildings on fire . `` There 's a terrible fire at the Mayfair Mews apartment building . ... Oh my God ! It 's like something keeps exploding or something , '' another woman tells dispatchers . The jet carried a student pilot in the front seat and an experienced instructor behind him , and the leakage of jet fuel was `` one of the indications that there was a mechanical malfunction , '' Navy Capt . Mark Weisgerber told reporters . The plane was part of a training squadron at Oceana and was not carrying live ordnance . The Navy said Monday that investigators have recovered the flight recorder from the Hornet . The device , which records flight data but not cockpit voices , has been sent to a Navy air base at Patuxent River , Maryland , for analysis , Navy officials said in a written statement Monday afternoon . The wing and part of the fuselage of the plane were being moved to Oceana for further study , but the remains of the jet 's twin engines will remain at the crash site for now as investigators study them , the U.S. Atlantic fleet 's aviation arm reported . The Navy expects to finish removing most aircraft debris by the end of the week as part of its investigation . And the service will soon begin cutting compensation checks to the people who lost their homes in the crash , said Rear Adm. Tim Alexander , commander of the Navy 's Mid-Atlantic region . `` We are committed to doing the right thing to address the needs of these families , who through no fault of their own have endured an incredible hardship , '' Alexander said . `` We owe it to everyone affected by Friday 's accident to help them get their life back together . '' Initial payments will begin at $ 2,300 per person to cover immediate needs , such as housing , meals and clothing . The amount will increase for additional family members . Counseling and legal services also will be available , Alexander said . Residents who completed claims by Saturday could receive payments by Monday . CNN 's Barbara Starr and Sandra Endo contributed to this report .
NEW : ` ` A Navy plane just went down on 24th Street , '' a woman told dispatchers . NEW : ` ` Oh my God ! It 's like something is broken , '' another woman told reporters . Seven people , including two pilots , were injured , but no one died in the crash . The service will compensate those whose homes were destroyed .