Two USMC down in Japan

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Tanga36

The F-18 crew has a chance. The Herc crew almost none.

Yeah sadly I fear there will be no survivors in the herc, y’all about a terrible feeling knowing you’re going down in the ocean and the chances of making it out alive are extremely minuscule.

Prayers for additional rescues and for the fallen and their families, rest easy boys, Semper Fi.

A second Marine has been recovered, but they're not saying anything about his condition, which probably means he didn't survive. Five remain missing. US officials said the accident occurred approximately 200 miles off the coast, while Japanese officials said the two Marines were found approximately 60 miles offshore.

Unofficial word is VMGR-152 and VMFA-242.

a reply to: Zaphod58

That sounds like the the Herc went down first and the F18 tried to limp it back to base

a reply to: Zaphod58

The Daily mail are reporting 2nd person may have survived, not sure how reliable that is though.

"The Marine Corps later said another crew member has been rescued and is being transported to hospital for evaluation"

www.dailymail.co.uk...

Here's hoping it's true

a reply to: nelloh62

I still wouldn't put much stock in it. They can't pronounce him until he's at a hospital. Until they come out and say definitely that he's alive and his condition officially, it's up in the air. A Super Hornet went down in Florida recently, and they said they were being transported for evaluation, and two hours later they said they were both killed in the crash.

a reply to: Woody510

If the Hornet was moving into position on the basket, they probably hit the outer wing section and possibly broke off the outer section, which would have caused the Herc to go out of control pretty much immediately.

One of the Marines recovered so far is dead according to Reuters.

“One of the recovered Marines is in fair condition and the other has been declared deceased by competent medical personnel,” a U.S. Marine Corps statement said. It added that search and rescue operations for the remaining five continues.

www.reuters.com...

originally posted by: solidshot
One of the Marines recovered so far is dead according to Reuters.

“One of the recovered Marines is in fair condition and the other has been declared deceased by competent medical personnel,” a U.S. Marine Corps statement said. It added that search and rescue operations for the remaining five continues.

www.reuters.com...

No good I was holding my breath hoping the 2nd crew made it.

a reply to: solidshot

General rule of thumb I've found is anyone picked up more than an hour or two after they hit the ground or water is deceased nine times out of ten.

The missing all belong to the KC-130 crew.

Japan has 10 aircraft and 3 ships involved in the search, the US has a P-8A and other aircraft involved. Bad weather moved through the area over the last 24 hours, making the search difficult.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
The missing all belong to the KC-130 crew.

That wasn’t hard to guess, still can’t imagine the terror of going down in a herc with no chance of escape in the middle of the ocean, sends shudders up my spine.
KC-130s in any unit ending in 52 aren’t loving life, last year’s crash and this one.

a reply to: BigDave-AR

Yep. It was remotely possible they were able to get control and put it down in a way someone could have gotten out. Not likely, considering the Hornet most likely hit the outboard wing, but remotely possible.

The 353rd SOG deployed three MC-130s and three CV-22s, along with a large group of PJs. Yakota was preparing to launch several of their C-130s to join the search as well.

Source.

Saw an update early this morning that the second Marine recovered made it to hospital but has now died. 5 aircrew still missing.

Z - post I saw mentioned another tanker/hornet crash at the same air station where the hornet somehow pulled the drogue out of the tanker. That possible? If so, how would that cause a crash for two different aircraft?

a reply to: Shamrock6

It wouldn't. They break drogues off all the time. It's expensive as hell, but I've seen F-18s land after the drogue broke through the canopy.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Thanks. I went back and reread it after asking you and realized I had misread it. They listed it as an incident, not a crash. My bad

a reply to: Shamrock6

Hornet pilots used to be notorious for that. They'd drop off the basket without backing out first. We banned them from tanking from our jets for awhile because of it.

I saw an A-6 come back with a drogue stuck on it. I don't know how the pilot made it back on the boat with it obstructing his vision.

www.stripes.com...