WASHINGTON: A fighter jet and a helicopter based mostly off the plane service USS Nimitz each crashed into the South China Sea inside half-hour of one another on Sunday (Oct 26) afternoon, the Navy’s Pacific Fleet mentioned.
The three crew members of the MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter have been rescued, and the 2 aviators within the F/A-18F Tremendous Hornet fighter jet ejected and have been recovered safely, and all 5 “are secure and in secure situation”, the fleet mentioned in a press release.
The causes of the 2 crashes have been beneath investigation, the assertion mentioned.
The USS Nimitz is returning to its residence port in Naval Base Kitsap in Washington state after having been deployed to the Center East for a lot of the summer season as a part of the US response to attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on business transport. The service is on its closing deployment earlier than decommissioning.
One other plane service, the USS Harry S Truman, suffered a sequence of mishaps in current months whereas deployed to the Center East.
In December, the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg mistakenly shot down an F/A-18 jet from the Truman.
Then, in April, one other F/A-18 fighter jet slipped off the Truman’s hangar deck and fell into the Pink Sea.
And in Might, an F/A fighter jet touchdown on the service within the Pink Sea went overboard after apparently failing to catch the metal cables used to cease touchdown planes and forcing its two pilots to eject.
No sailors have been killed in any of these mishaps. The outcomes of investigations into these incidents have but to be launched.
