In a dramatic series of events in the contested waters, both an F/A-18F Super Hornet and an MH-60R Sea Hawk were lost in separate incidents; all five crew members were successfully rescued.
An MH-60R Sea Hawk on the flight deck of the USS Ronald Reagan as USS Mustin steams alongside in the South China Sea on Thursday, July 9, 2020. / Credit: Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Erica Bechard / AP
SOUTH CHINA SEA – The U.S. Pacific Fleet was rocked by two major aviation incidents on Sunday after a fighter jet and a helicopter operating in the politically sensitive South China Sea crashed in separate, unrelated events just 30 minutes apart.
In a remarkable display of emergency response, all five aircrew members involved in the back-to-back incidents were safely rescued and reported to be in stable condition.
The dual crashes represent a significant blow to naval aviation operations in a high-stakes region where the U.S. Navy conducts routine patrols to assert freedom of navigation.
A Rapid-Fire Emergency
The alarming sequence began at approximately 2:45 p.m. local time. An MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter, the Navy's premier anti-submarine and utility helicopter, crashed into the sea while "conducting routine operations."
The helicopter was assigned to the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 73, known as the "Battle Cats." All three crew members aboard the Sea Hawk were successfully recovered from the water.
The crisis for the strike group was far from over.
Only 30 minutes later, as rescue efforts for the helicopter crew were likely still underway, a second emergency unfolded. An F/A-18F Super Hornet, the two-seat backbone of the Navy's carrier air power, also crashed.
The jet, from Strike Fighter Squadron 22, the "Fighting Redcocks," went down during its own set of routine operations. The two crew members, a pilot and a weapons systems officer, successfully ejected from the high-performance aircraft before it hit the water.
Massive Rescue in a Tense Region
Search and rescue (SAR) teams from Carrier Strike Group 11 (CSG 11), the parent command for both aircraft, were scrambled to the scenes. The SAR teams successfully located and rescued the two ejected Super Hornet pilots.
The Pacific Fleet confirmed in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that all five individuals from both aircraft were safely recovered and are in stable condition.
The loss of two advanced aircraft a Super Hornet valued at over $70 million and a Sea Hawk at over $40 million in a single 30-minute window is a massive operational incident, even with the successful rescue of all personnel.
The U.S. Navy has stated that the causes for both crashes are completely separate and are now under intense investigation. The incidents will almost certainly trigger a temporary safety stand-down for the entire carrier air wing as investigators work to determine what went wrong in the skies over one of the world's most contested waterways.