Four naval aviators based in Virginia Beach were pulled from the Atlantic Ocean Thursday with minor injuries after their two fighter jets crashed during a training exercise off the North Carolina coast, officials said.
The accident happened about 10:40 a.m. off the Oregon Inlet in the Outer Banks, the Coast Guard said.
The Navy described what happened as an “in-flight mishap” involving two F/A-18F Super Hornets, as opposed to a collision between the two aircraft. Details were not released, but the Navy has started an investigation.
The aircraft were attached to Strike Fighter Squadron 211 based at Naval Air Station Oceana.
The F/A-18 Hornet is a two-seat fighter jet that deploys on Navy aircraft carriers around the world. These two jets were not currently assigned to an aircraft carrier, according to the Navy.
Two personnel were rescued by the crew of the commercial fishing vessel Tammy, the Coast Guard said. The other two were hoisted to safety by an HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C.
A second Coast Guard helicopter hoisted the two airmen from the fishing vessel. All four were transported to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Krystyn Pecora told reporters that it was a “textbook rescue.” She described all four as having minor injuries, but in very high spirits.
“We’re happy to have brought everyone home safely today,” she said.
The Navy has convened a Mishap Investigation Board to determine what caused the crash, said Mike Maus, a spokesman for Naval Air Force Atlantic. There is no timetable on how long such an investigation might take.
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told reporters in Washington that the rescue effort also involved a Coast Guard C-130 and the USS Mesa Verde, a San Antonio-class amphibious warship based at Naval Station Norfolk.
“All four, I’m told, were alert and talking when they were picked up,” Cook said.
In previous incidents, an F/A-18 Super Hornet attached to the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt crashed in the Persian Gulf last May. Both crew members survived, and the crash was not the result of hostile activity.
In April 2012, an F/A18D crashed into a Virginia Beach apartment complex shortly after takeoff from Oceana. A subsequent investigation revealed the cause to be rare malfunctions in both of the aircraft's engines. No one on the ground was injured and the pilots ejected safely.
The planes cost about $57 million each, according to the Navy, and the service can ill afford to lose any.
As the Navy and Coast Guard were responding to Thursday morning’s crash, Navy officers were testifying before Congress about the strain on naval aviation due to maintenance backlogs and lack of spare parts for F/A-18s.
Only one in four F/A-18s are combat ready, said Capt. Randy Stearns, who heads Strike Fighter Wing Atlantic. In the past, he could assemble enough fighters to deploy with a carrier in 90 to 120 days, if the need arose. Now it will take six months to a year.
It is also common practice to pull spare parts from fighter jets back home so front-line pilots can have combat-ready aircraft. It recently happened when the Navy ordered a one-month deployment extension for the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman.
“I have three squadrons right now that I had to call and tell, ‘Hey, be ready. You’re the donors for the Truman extension,’ ” Stearns said. “That (extension) was unforeseen. That was not paid for.”
Stearns spoke before members of the House Armed Services Committee in a hearing chaired by Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake.
(Culled from dailypress.com)
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