Super Hornet Down In Key West

[RyanS]

A Super Hornet (F/A-18F) has gone down at NAS Key West in Florida. Both crew members ejected and were taken to the hospital.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-nav ... -key-west/

An F/A-18 Super Hornet from the Naval Air Station Oceana-based Strike Fighter Squadron 213 suffered what Navy officials are calling a “mishap” near Key West, Florida, today, forcing the pilots to eject before the jet crashed into the ocean.

Official details were scant, but base officials confirmed that search and rescue was at the crash scene and that it occurred at about 4:30 p.m. local time.

“The mishap happened about 4:30 PM Eastern Time, the pilot ejected and search and rescue operations are ongoing,” said Cmdr. Dave Hecht, spokesman for Naval Forces Atlantic. “At this time, that is all the information I have.”

[RyanS]

Sounds like the jet landed in shallow water near the end of the runway. Popular speculation is a bird-related engine failure but certainly that is just a guess at this point. It sounds like search and rescue was on the scene very quickly.

[RyanS]

Unfortunately the crew did not make it.

[alexp2805-]

Praying for the families.

[RyanS]

Rumor has it the jet was on a single-engine approach when it lost the good engine

[awal2049]

An engine failure makes sense since the tail hook is down. They most have been going for a trap landing. If you look at the pictures, the front half of the fuselage in front of the air intakes is blown completely off. I found an article that indicates the jet may have exploded in midair.

Rip to the pilots, and God bless their families.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-nav ... tal-crash/