An E/A-18G Growler, assigned to the Cougars of Electronic Attack Squadron 139, lands on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. Photo by U.S. Navy Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Alex Perlman
Oct. 17 (UPI) — The Navy on Sunday declared a two person crew dead after their jet crashed in northeast Washington during an Oct. 15 training mission. The wreckage of the plane was located but the aviators never were.
The rescue operation has now shifted to a recovery mission, a Navy official said.
“It is with a heavy heart that we share the loss of two beloved Zappers,” Cmdr. Timothy Warburton of the Navy’s Electronic Attack Squadron 130 — which goes by the nickname “Zappers” — said in a statement. “Our priority right now is taking care of the families of our fallen aviators and ensuring the well-being of our Sailors and the Growler community. We are grateful for the ongoing teamwork to safely recover the deceased.”
The EA-18G Growler jet was on a routine training mission when it went down Tuesday in the scrubby landscape on the mountainside east of Washington’s Mount Rainier, about 30 miles west of Yakima, and officials have said the whereabouts of the crew remains a mystery.
“Responders are facing mountainous terrain, cloudy weather and low visibility as the search is ongoing,” Navy officials said in an earlier statement Wednesday afternoon.
The plane was part of the Navy’s Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130 based in Oak Harbor, Wash., and had taken off on the training mission from Whidbey Island.
The squadron had returned in July from a deployment to the Red Sea, where the Zappers, as they are known, carried out some 700 combat missions ” to degrade the Houthi capability to threaten innocent shipping,” the Navy said in a press release.
Rescuers immediately began to search for the wreckage and the crew with an MH-60S helicopter Tuesday. While the wreckage was located, the two-person crew was not.
The Navy has established an emergency response center on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle, to deploy teams that will continue to keep the area secure while the search for the missing aviators continues.
The Growler is estimated to be worth about $67 million, the Navy said. All but one of the jets is based at Whidbey Island.
The jet is typically used to counter enemy radar and communications, jam integrated air defense systems, “support non-integrated air defense missions and emerging non-lethal target sets, and provide enhanced lethal suppression through accurate high-speed anti-radiation missile targeting,” according to the Navy.