Two Navy aircraft from the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier crashed into the South China Sea within just 30 minutes of each other over the weekend — but all five crew members from both aircraft were safely rescued without injury.
According to USNI News, an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter operating from the Nimitz went down around 2:45 p.m. Sunday during a routine mission. Roughly half an hour later, an F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet also crashed in the same area around 3:15 p.m.
A fighter jet and a helicopter operating from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz both crashed into the South China Sea within 30 minutes of each other, the Navy’s Pacific Fleet said.
The MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter, carrying three crew members, went down first. All three were rescued from the water. Shortly afterward, two aviators aboard an F/A-18F Super Hornet ejected safely before their jet also crashed.
“All personnel are safe and in stable condition,” the Pacific Fleet said in a statement.
The cause of the accidents remains under investigation. President Trump, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday, speculated that “bad fuel” might have been a factor but added that no foul play was suspected and that the Navy had “nothing to hide.”
The causes of both crashes are under investigation, the Navy said in its statement.
The incidents come amid a string of recent mishaps involving another U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman, which has faced multiple operational issues while deployed to the Middle East in recent months.
The USS Nimitz is currently returning to its home port at Naval Base Kitsap in Washington after a summer deployment to the Middle East, where it was tasked with deterring Yemen’s Houthi militants who have been disrupting shipping lanes during the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
The Navy said all three crew members of the MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter were rescued Sunday afternoon, while the two aviators aboard the F/A-18F Super Hornet ejected and were safely recovered.
The USS Nimitz is returning to its home port at Naval Base Kitsap in Washington state after spending most of the summer deployed in the Middle East, according to reports.
The carrier, which was launched in 1972 and has served for more than five decades, is expected to be decommissioned upon its return.
The crashes mark the latest in a series of incidents involving U.S. aircraft carriers deployed overseas over the past year.
In December, an F/A-18 from the USS Harry S. Truman was accidentally shot down by friendly fire from a nearby missile cruiser. In April, another Super Hornet fell from the Truman’s flight deck into the Red Sea. Then, in May, a landing jet overshot the carrier’s arresting cables and plunged off the deck into the sea.
No fatalities were reported in any of those incidents.
