Two navy aircraft from the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier crashed just 30 minutes apart into the South China sea over the weekend – but all five crew members from both craft were mercifully rescued without harm.
A MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter flying from the Nimitz crashed into the South China Sea while on a routine operation around 2:45 p.m. Sunday, according to USNI News.
An F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet crashed just minutes later around 3:15 p.m.
A fighter jet and a helicopter based off the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz both crashed into the South China Sea within 30 minutes of each other, the Navy’s Pacific Fleet said. APThe chopper was carrying three crew members, each of which were rescued from the waves.
And two airmen flying the Super Hornet managed to eject and were also rescued.
All are “safe and in stable condition,” the Navy’s Pacific Fleet said in a statement.
It remains unclear what led to the accidents.
President Trump speculated that “bad fuel” may have been involved while taking reporters’ questions onboard Air Force One Monday.
The president added that no foul play was suspected, and that the Navy had “nothing to hide.”
The causes of the two crashes were under investigation, the statement said. APAnother aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman, suffered a series of mishaps in recent months while deployed to the Middle East.
An investigation into the incidents is underway.
The USS Nimitz is en route to its home port at Naval Base Kitsap in Washington after spending the summer deployed in the Middle East to deter Yemen’s Houthi terrorists, which have been harassing shipping lanes during the Israel-Hamas war.
The three crew members of the MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter were rescued on Sunday afternoon, and the two aviators in the F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet ejected and were recovered safely, the statement said. AP
The USS Nimitz is returning to its home port in Naval Base Kitsap in Washington state after having been deployed to the Middle East for most of the summer, according to reports. APIt is expected to be decommissioned once it arrives home. The ship has spent more than 50 years in service after being launched in 1972.
The accident was just the latest to plague US aircraft carriers stationed overseas in the last year.
In December, an F/A-18 from the USS Truman aircraft carrier was accidentally shot down in friendly fire from a nearby missile cruiser.
And in April, another F/A-18 fell from the Truman deck into the Red Sea.
Then in May, a landing jet missed the Truman’s stopping cables and plunged over the end of the deck into the water.
Nobody was killed in those incidents.
