Search and rescue forces were fighting mountainous terrain and cloudy weather as they searched Wednesday for a missing Navy flight crew. Navy, Army, and civilian planes and helicopters — including Navy spy planes and submarine hunters — were looking for the two-man crew and the crash site of a Navy EA-18G Growler electronic warfare fighter that went down near Mount Rainier in Washington Tuesday
“Aerial operations continued through the night, launching from NAS Whidbey Island and searching in the area 30 miles west of Yakima,” a Navy spokesperson said in a release Wednesday. “As of 11 a.m. on Oct. 16, neither the crew nor wreckage has been located.”
The two-seat EA-18G flies with a pilot an Electronic Warfare Officer.
The search includes EP-3E Aries II aircraft from Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One (VQ-1) and P-8A Poseidon from Patrol Squadron 46 (VP-46). The EP-3E is a signal intelligence platform, tasked to eavesdrop on enemy communications and other electronic spying, while the airliner-sized P-8A conducts anti-submarine missions. Teams from NAS Whidbey Island Search and Rescue and Army helicopters from 4-6 Air Cavalry Squadron from Joint Base Lewis-McChord were also searching.
The Navy released no details on how the plane went missing during a “routine training missing” just after 3 p.m. Tuesday. The fighter jet crashed, the Navy said, “east of Mount Rainier,” which sits about halfway between Seattle and Yakima.
The plane was based at Whidbey Island as part of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130. Whidbey Island is home to nearly all of the Navy’s EA-18Gs and its initial schoolhouse for pilots and flight officers assigned to the plane. VAQ-130 is part of Carrier Air Wing 3, which is attached to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier.
The EA-18G Growler is a variant of the FA-18 fighter with weapons and electronic systems dedicated to electronic warfare tasks, like finding and attacking enemy radar locations.
This is a developing story and will be updated as new information becomes available.