Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet crashes off Philippines

Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet crashes off Philippines
UPI

Nov. 12 (UPI) — A U.S. Navy fighter jet crashed into the sea off the Philippines Monday due to mechanical trouble, the 7th Fleet said.

The command said in a statement the F/A-18 Hornet, which was flying off the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, was conducting routine operations when the problem surfaced. The two-member crew safely ejected.

“The crew was immediately and safely recovered by USS Ronald Reagan search and rescue aircraft and brought back to the ship for evaluation by medical personnel,” the Navy said. “Both aviators are in good condition.”

The crash is under investigation and the ship has returned to its normal duties.

The Navy said the Ronald Reagan is in the Indo-Pacific region to support the security and stability of the area.

The 7th Fleet, headquartered in Yokosuka, Japan, is the largest of the U.S. Navy’s numbered fleets with 70 ships and submarines, 140 aircraft and about 40,000 sailors and Marines in the region and covers 48 million square miles of the Pacific and Indian oceans.

Monday’s accident marked the second time in a month an aircraft connected with the USS Ronald Reagan crashed. On Oct. 19, a Navy MH-60 Seahawk helicopter assigned to Carrier Air Wing 5 crashed on the flight deck of the ship. Several people were injured.

The Ronald Reagan Strike Group was conducting routine operations in the Philippine Sea when that incident happened.

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