A Navy pilot needed to eject from a coaching jet and was rescued from the ocean close to Key West, Florida, on Wednesday, based on the service.
The F-5N plane went into the water about 25 miles from Boca Chica Discipline on Wednesday morning. The pilot was assigned to Fighter Squadron Composite 111, often called the “Solar Downers,” primarily based at Naval Air Station Key West, a Navy assertion mentioned.
The bottom launched an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter and rescued the pilot, who was taken “to a Miami-area hospital for additional analysis,” the service mentioned.
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Naval Air Station Key West is positioned on one of many last islands within the Florida Keys archipelago, near town of Key West and about 130 miles to 165 miles from Miami.
The pilot, who has not been recognized by the service, was flying a single-seater F-5N “Adversary Plane” — a jet operated by the Navy to simulate enemy jets in coaching workout routines.
A web site for the annual Key West Air Present famous that the entire pilots within the Solar Downers squadron “are former F/A-18 Hornet pilots and most are High Gun graduates,” referring to the distinguished Navy flight coaching college that pulls the service’s high pilots.
The squadron consists of each active-duty and reservist personnel. The Navy didn’t specify the standing of the pilot on this incident.
In keeping with a Navy reality sheet, the entire F-5Ns within the Navy’s possession had been “low-hour” plane bought from the Swiss Air Pressure in 2006 and 2020.
The Navy has mentioned that the reason for the incident can be investigated and promised to launch extra particulars as they develop into accessible.
In keeping with knowledge from the Naval Security Command, the Navy has had 4 “Class A” aviation mishaps to this point this yr. The time period refers to an incident when the ensuing injury is greater than $2.5 million or it results in loss of life or severe incapacity.
In January, a Navy jet crashed in Alabama throughout a coaching flight, however each pilots ejected and suffered no main accidents.
In March and April, there have been three plane that skilled points whereas nonetheless on the bottom. One incident was described merely as a “mechanical failure,” one other concerned an F/A-18 jet being broken by a jet blast deflector, and at last a P-8 Poseidon patrol plane blew out some tires on takeoff however managed to land safely.
— Konstantin Toropin may be reached at konstantin.toropin@army.com. Observe him on Twitter @ktoropin.
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