The two staff members who had vanished after their EA-18G Bottle plane crashed in a mountainous area of Washington during a routine training journey were discovered dead on Sunday, according to the US Navy.
According to Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, the aircraft from the Electronic Attack Squadron crashed south of Mount Rainier on Tuesday afternoon.
Search groups, including a US Navy MH-60S aircraft, were instantly dispatched from NAS Whidbey Island to find the staff and the collapse site. The wreckage was discovered on Wednesday by an aerial crew at an altitude of approximately 6, 000 feet ( 1, 828 meters ) in a remote, steep, and densely wooded area east of Mount Rainier. Army Special Forces men with experience in mountaineering, high-angle recovery, and professional contacts were brought in to get the crash page.
The Electronic Attack Wing commander, US Pacific Fleet, Captain David Ganci, stated on Thursday that their top priority was to find the missing staff people” as rapidly and as securely as possible.”
The names of the aviators wo n’t be made public until 24 hours after their next of kin have been informed, according to a press release from the Navy on Sunday.
The cause of the accident is still being investigated, but the search and rescue attempts have now shifted to a long-term rescue and recovery activity.
Commander Timothy Warburton, commanding officer of the pilots ‘ Electronic Attack Squadron, expressed his grief, saying,” It is with a big brain that we share the loss of two precious Zappers”.
We are thankful for the continued teamwork to properly recover the dying, he continued, noting that” the families of our fallen aviators” is our top priority at this time.
The EA-18G Growler, similar to the F/A-18F Super Hornet, is equipped with sophisticated electronic warfare products.
The majority of Growler squadron are stationed at Whidbey Island, with one place at Japan’s Marine Corps Air Station, Iwakuni. The” Zappers” had recently been deployed on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Military aviation training exercises and journey can be risky and often end in crashes, injuries, and fatalities. An F-35 warrior plane crashed in New Mexico in May while it was traveling from Texas to Edwards Air Force Base near Los Angeles, severely injuring the captain. Eight US Air Force Special Operations Command personnel per month perished in a fatal crash off Japan’s beach in the form of a CV-22B Osprey plane.
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