Navy Aircraft Crashes Near Mount Rainier, Search Underway for 2 Missing Crew Members

In this file photograph, an EA-18G Growler assigned to the Zappers of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130 prepares to make an arrested landing on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), on Dec. 21, 2016. Courtesy of the U.S. Navy

A search is underway after a U.S. Navy aircraft crashed east of Mount Rainier in Washington state on the evening of Oct. 15, with two crew members on board, military officials announced.

The EA-18G Growler went down during a routine training flight at approximately 3:20 p.m. Pacific time, the Navy said.

The aircraft was from Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130, also known by the nickname “Zappers,” which is based at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island.

The status of the two Navy aircraft crew members who were onboard at the time is unknown.

A Navy MH-60S helicopter from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and other search and rescue assets examined the crash site and searched for the crew.

The cause of the crash is unknown, according to the statement.

Officials are currently investigating the incident.

The EA-18G Growler is a variant of the F/A-18F Super Hornet Block II and combines the “capability of the combat-proven Super Hornet with the latest AEA avionics suite evolved from the Improved Capability III (ICAP III) system,” according to the Navy.

The aircraft represents “the most advanced technology in airborne Electronic Attack and stands as the Navy’s first line of defense in hostile environments,” the Navy states on its official website. “The EA-18G’s vast array of sensors and weapons provides the warfighter with a lethal and survivable weapon system to counter current and emerging threats.”

The squadron is the oldest electronic warfare squadron in the U.S. Navy.

In a separate statement to multiple media, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island officials reiterated that as of 7 p.m. on Oct. 15, the status of the two crew members remained unknown.

The Epoch Times contacted a spokesperson for Naval Air Station Whidbey Island for further comment but didn’t receive a response by publication time.

Nearly one year ago, a U.S. Osprey aircraft crashed off the coast of Japan, killing eight airmen on board. The Osprey crashed off the shore of Yakushima, Japan, during a routine training mission on Nov. 29, 2023, resulting in all Osprey aircraft being grounded for months after the incident.

A U.S. Air Force report published in August said the crash was caused by a failure of the left-hand prop rotor gearbox on the aircraft that caused “a rapidly cascading failure of the [aircraft’s] drive system, resulting in an instantaneous asymmetric lift condition that was unrecoverable” by the crew.

The report further stated that the pilot of the Osprey continued to fly the plane and did not make an emergency landing despite repeated warnings in the cockpit regarding the malfunction.

The plane crashed four minutes after the pilot eventually informed officials at Yakushima Airport of the malfunction, by which time, the left-hand prop rotor gearbox “catastrophically failed, causing sudden asymmetric lift, and forcing the [aircraft] into an immediate left roll, resulting in the aircraft abruptly rolling twice before impacting the water,” the report found.

Aldgra Fredly contributed to this report.