Two US Navy service members on board a Boeing Jet which crashed during a training flight in Washington on Tuesday have been declared dead.
The Boeing EA-18G Growler went down east of Mount Rainier around 3:30pm local time on October 15.
‘It is with a heavy heart that we share the loss of two beloved Zappers,’ said Cmdr. Timothy Warburton, commanding officer of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130, per KOMO News.
‘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 Navy said the airmen will be identified in due course after their next have kin have been notified.
The EA-18G Growler is an electronic warfare aircraft, and variant of the F/A-18 Super Hornet.
Boeing advertises its Growler as the world’s most advanced airborne electronic attack with twin engines that give it a maximum cruising speed of more than 1,000 knots, or 1,150 miles per hour, faster than the speed of sound.
The warfare jet was developed with tactical jamming capabilities to knock out enemy communications.
Its nine weapons stations can carry ‘jamming pods’ – filled with electronic weapons – or missiles, such as the AGM-88 HARM missiles designed to home in on electronic transmissions coming from surface-to-air radar systems.
Teach also confirmed to DailyMail.com that a Boeing P-8 Poseidon, a reconnaissance aircraft, joined the search.
Flight paths of the P-8 Poseidon were monitored by civilians online who showed the craft circling several Washington towns, including Cliffdell and Nile that are just miles away from Mount Rainier National Park.
The downed Boeing combat jet follows a string of controversies surrounding the company planes, specifically the safety of its troubled 787 passenger jet.
In September, a United Airlines flight was forced to make an unplanned landing after cockpit navigation screens failed.
While flying at an altitude of 35,000 feet in a remote region over Canada’s frigid and inhospitable Hudson Bay, the plane’s flight management computers entered ‘a degraded mode with limited capabilities,’ Transportation Safety Board of Canada reported.
The September 26 flight was forced make an emergency landing at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, where United has a major maintenance base.
It took more than two hours for the plane to reach the ‘windy city’ but the pilots managed to get the jet on the ground without incident – 3,940 miles from its projected destination.
A United Airlines spokesperson confirmed that the plane was forced to make a diversion ‘to address a potential technology issue,’ Business Insider reported.
The incident came just days before the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that it was dropping a ‘safety probe’ into United Airlines following a slew of mishaps, including an incident in which the landing gear of a United plane failed causing the plane to roll onto the grass at the end of the runway.
In addition to United Airlines’ alleged errors, Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company, has faced intense scrutiny upon the release of its 787 Dreamliner fleet.
In 2013, the FAA grounded all 787s until a revised battery design was approved.
From 2019 onward, the 787 experienced quality control issues that slowed production and led to a near-total halt in deliveries from 2021 to 2022.
And again in August of this year, the leading manufacturer of commercial jetliners was inspected by the FAA regarding incidents in which planes were found uncontrollably nose-diving in mid-air.
A whistleblower has since come out with numerous safety concerns about the 787 fleet and the FAA’s investigation is ongoing.
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