Rhino Down off Key West

There's not a lot of info about what happened. CNN is reporting an F/A-18 went down off Key West and that the crew ejected. The crew's fate is currently unknown.

TBH, it's not clear if the bird was an electric bug or rhino.

www.cnn.com...

a reply to: anzha

It's an F model from VFA-213. At least one seat fired. Witness said it rolled on its back on final and slammed into the water. They may have had a fire.

I don't like that it's approaching an hour, and they're still saying SAR is underway and crew status is unknown.

"Cmdr. David Hecht, spokesman for NAS Oceana, told 13News Now the two crew members ejected from the F/A-18 Hornet and that rescuers recovered them and took them to the hospital."

Hopefully they will survive.

a reply to: Vivyinsect

Good to hear. Jets are easy to replace, crews aren't.

Probably just ejection related injuries.

Updated statement, both pilots were killed in the crash. They were returning to the base single engine, with one engine possibly on fire.

a reply to: Zaphod58

damn i was hoping they made it, i wonder if being upside down was the reason(ejecting into the water). maybe to low and didnt have time to slow down, or they did the top gun thing that killed goose?

a reply to: Zaphod58

Ooof. That sucks. Condolences to all involved.

RIP..

a reply to: penroc3

They would have been low and slow at the time, so they probably were outside the envelope if the aircraft rolled as described.

a reply to: Zaphod58

true, will most likely be a mystery until a report is released

The water it landed is barely deep enough to be considered ocean. The aircraft is on its back, with the cockpit area broken off. Gear and hook were down at the time, getting ready to land.

RIP Lads...thoughts with family’s at this time..😔

a reply to: Zaphod58

dang, do you have any ideas on what happened.

i can only imagine they ditched to low and the parachute didn't open in time so they hit the ground hard with deadlu results.

a reply to: penroc3

My bet is fire in the shut down engine. If it kept burning after the engine was shut down it could have caused flight control damage.

a reply to: Zaphod58

ahh so what do you think caused them to parish in the crash?

a reply to: penroc3

Stayed with it too long. They were only a mile out, so probably thought they could make it, and were taken by surprise when they rolled.

a reply to: Zaphod58

news.usni.org...

Aviators named.

a reply to: Zaphod58 looks like they need to work on the engine bays. Should not be loosing hydraulics and why can't they stop the fuel flow. second or third one. Something is getting touchy feeling with something. when they TCTO'ed the F-4 engine bays they became a lot safer.