(Updated at 1338 Pacific) AP reports in more detail on the Super Hornet midair:
Two U.S. Navy fighter jets crashed Monday in the Persian Gulf, but the three pilots on board ejected safely out of the aircraft, the Navy said.
The three pilots were brought back after the crash to the USS Harry Truman, the aircraft carrier they were operating from, and are in good condition, the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet said in a written statement.
Teams from the Truman rescued the pilots who ejected after their F/A-18 Super Hornets crashed during operations in the Gulf, the statement said.
The Navy said the cause of the accident, which occurred around 1800GMT, was under investigation.
The planes were operating in the “vicinity of the Truman Carrier” at the time of the crash, said Lt. John Gay from 5th Fleet’s headquarters in Bahrain.
“They were on a routine mission in support of maritime security in the region,” said Gay, adding that Navy pilots conduct these types of flights several times a day.
Navy Vice Adm. Kevin J. Cosgriff, who is the commander of the 5th Fleet, said it was a mid-air collision. Information released by the 5th Fleet said the two aircraft were providing “close air support from Iraq when they crashed.”
One of the F-18 jets that crashed held two pilots, the other held just one. The aircraft are from Carrier Air Wing Three, which is deployed to the Persian Gulf with the Truman Carrier Strike Group.
Gay said Monday’s crash was not connected to an incident early Sunday where Iranian boats harassed and provoked three U.S. Navy ships in the strategic Straight of Hormuz. The three Navy boats involved in the incident were the cruiser USS Port Royal, destroyer USS Hopper and frigate USS Ingraham, officials said.
“There is no connection with the incident,” Gay said.
Updates will continue to be posted as we get them.
– Ward
Sounds like it might have been an air to air refueling incident to me.
DC2
I thought the same thing, DC2.
not refueling, I bet it was just real “close” formation flying…can’t wait to get the incident report…
I’m just glad the crew made it out and were recovered OK. And like DC2 and Doc, I figured it was a refuelling incident.
This stuff’s dangerous all the time, even if you don’t have speedboats playing games with the surface ships.
Cost of doing business in carrier aviation. Crews are safe which is great.
Those jets should have been busy bombing them speed boats harassing our ships and maybe they wouldn’t have crashed into each other. Considering they were saying that they were going to blow up the ships, dropping unknown objects in the ships path, and so on, I bet it took every nerve of the Captain not to fire on them.
Glad the pilots are safe and it will be interesting to see exactly what happened.
Visuals might have been tricky. 9PM local with no moon.
Whatever the cause, it is great to see the crews made it out in one piece. I’d rather pay for a new jet than a lost life or three. Equipment is expendable, people aren’t, even if they mess up. Like the previous poster said, its the cost of business in carrier aviation, and I’m just really happy that that cost didn’t involve the lives of any of our men and women.
DC2,
Hey you may be right but I do remember reading that the Navy was doing experiments on how best to use that fancy new AESA of theirs. Stuff like using F models to illuminate and direct the E models so they’d remain undetected and all that jazz…so I wouldn’t be too surprised to see mixed aircraft operating together. But on this subject I’m pure spectator and have no experience so once again you all may be right and I might be the idiot in the corner.