A US Navy pilot was killed in an F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet crash on Friday afternoon. The supersonic jet crashed in the Trona region of Southern California around 03:14 pm local time.
Em release, the Navy said the fighter, an F/A-18E, crashed in an uninhabited region. No one was injured on the ground. Firefighters and security forces from the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station were dispatched to the crash site.
The Navy also states that “a The pilot's identity will not be released until 24 hours after notification of next of kin.”
OF/A-18 was based at Lemoore Naval Air Station in Fresno County, about 380 km from the crash site. The base, which is also home to the Pacific Fighter and Attack Wings Command, is home to 15 squadrons of Super Hornets, 10 of which operate the single-seat Model E that crashed yesterday.
In 2019, a Navy Super Hornet crashed into Death Valley National Park during a routine training mission, killing the pilot and slightly injuring seven park visitors who were hit by debris, notes the portal. Military.com.
They gathered at a scenic overlook where aviation enthusiasts watch military pilots speed through a chasm dubbed the Star Wars Canyon, officials said.
In October 2021 a Super Hornet from Chine Lake also crashed and, in 2020, another from Lemoore crashed, both during training missions. The pilots ejected safely, one in a remote area south of Death Valley National Park, near the Nevada border, and the other in the Mojave Desert.
s of fighter pilot podcast, presented by a former Navy pilot, lamented the accident that occurs in the middle of the launch of Top Gun: Maverick: “On the heels of a blockbuster release, where we walk out of the theater feeling like everyone always goes home victorious, comes this reminder of a sobering reality…”, says the Facebook post.
