Fighter jet crashes in US, pilots missing

The US Naval Air Station Whidbey Island has announced that two aviators were reported missing on October 15 after a US Navy EA-18G Growler crashed east of Mount Rainier during a routine training mission. 

A search operation was initiated, involving a US Navy MH-60S helicopter dispatched from Whidbey Island to locate the crew and assess the crash site. The identities of the crew members have not been disclosed yet, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

As of 11:30 p.m. (GMT-04:00), the search was still ongoing, covering an area exceeding 40 miles from north to south, based on data from Flightradar24, which monitors flights. An investigation into the cause of the crash is currently underway. 

The aircraft belongs to Electronic Attack Squadron 130, known as the "Zappers," which recently returned in July from a combat deployment aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Southern Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and Gulf of Aden. The EA-18G Growler is a modified version of the F/A-18 Super Hornet, with all but one of the Navy's Growler squadrons stationed at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island near Oak Harbor. The first Growler test aircraft began production in 2004 and had its inaugural flight in 2006, as noted by the Navy. Manufactured by Boeing, each unit costs approximately $67 million. 

In 2017, two Navy crew members from a different squadron were injured when the canopy of an EA-18G Growler detached while preparing for takeoff at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island during a training exercise. Both the pilot and an electronic warfare officer sustained serious injuries and were hospitalised for several weeks, leading to a three-day "operational pause" for Growler flight operations.

By Naila Huseynova