Phantom88 Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 (edited) *** God Bless Them*** "Two Naval Aviators were Resqued and receiving medical care after an F/A-18F Super Hornet went down off the coast of Key West, Florida have died, the Navy announced Wednesday night. "We are sad to report that both aviators have been declared deceased," a statement posted to the Naval Air Forces Twitter account read. "Their families are in our prayers. Per policy, we will withhold notification pending [next-of-kin] notification." available about the nature of the pilots' injuries. The statement came roughly 6 hours after the aircraft crashed on final approach to Boca Chica Field following a training mission. A spokesman with Naval Air Forces Atlantic, Cmdr. Dave Hecht, told Military.com earlier in the day that a pilot and weapons systems officer had been transferred to Lower Keys Medical Center in Key West after aircraft, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 213, out of Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, suffered a mishap approximately a mile off the runway. Elements of the squadron, nicknamed the Blacklions, had been completing a detachment to Naval Air Station Key West. The crash happened around 4:30 p.m., Hecht said. Both pilots onboard the Super Hornet ejected, he said. Initially, Hecht said a search-and-rescue effort for the aircrew was still ongoing around 6 PM, but later he said the pilots were recovered within minutes and taken by ambulance to the medical center. An eyewitness, Barbie Wilson, told Military.com the crash "looked like something out of a movie." Wilson, who lives on the back side of the air station, said she stopped to watch an F/A-18 flying overhead, as she often does, and was shocked to see what appeared to be a massive malfunction in midair. "Literally, the wings went vertical, and there was a fireball, and it just literally dropped out of the sky," Wilson said. She said she didn't see the plane hit the water, but observed the crash site in shallow water offshore. Wilson said she can still see the wreckage of the plane upside down in the water. She did not observe the pilots ejecting from the aircraft, she said. A helicopter that appeared to be part of the search mission was circling overhead, she added. It's not clear what caused the crash. -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. Edited March 15, 2018 by Phantom88 Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaceFuel85 Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 VFA-213 has honest to god shitty luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greekbull Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 Terrible news! Thoughts and prayers to their families! AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D | ASUS Crosshair Hero X670E | 64GB G Skill Trident Z DDR5 6000 | Nvidia RTX 4090 FE| Samsung EVO Plus 6 TB M.2 PCIe SSDs | TM Hornet Stick/WinWing Hornet Throttle and MIP | VPC T-50 Stick Base | TM TPR Rudder Pedals W/Damper | Varjo Aero/Pimax Crystal VFA-25 Fist of the Fleet Carrier Strike Group One(CSG-1) Discord Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plague2Delta Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 Terrible news. Condolences to my Navy brethren, the families of each, and VFA-213. Semper Fi to them and rest easy Gents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolga Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 Praying for the families! "Long life It is a waste not to notice that it is not noticed that it is milk in the title." Amazon.co.jp review for milk translated from Japanese "Amidst the blue skies, A link from past to future. The sheltering wings of the protector..." - ACE COMBAT 4 "Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight"-Psalm 144:1 KJV i5-4430 at 3.00GHz, 8GB RAM, GTX 1060 FE, Windows 7 x64 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkateZilla Posted March 16, 2018 Share Posted March 16, 2018 The Guys were stationed here... :SADFACE: Windows 10 Pro, Ryzen 2700X @ 4.6Ghz, 32GB DDR4-3200 GSkill (F4-3200C16D-16GTZR x2), ASRock X470 Taichi Ultimate, XFX RX6800XT Merc 310 (RX-68XTALFD9) 3x ASUS VS248HP + Oculus HMD, Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS + MFDs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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