A video captured the moment when a US Navy jet nose dived into the ocean.
A dramatic video shows the moment a US Navy fighter jet crashed into the sea off the coast of San Diego, California. The Navy is investigating the nose-dive and subsequent crash, weighing everything from the airplane itself to the pilots.
Shocking video captures the moment a US Navy fighter jet crash slams the aircraft into the San Diego Bay
Shortly before attempting a landing, a US Navy fighter jet crashed into the San Diego Bay near a residential area. A bystander caught the final moments of the airplane’s flight on a smartphone video.
In the video, the carrier-based fighter jet is in a near-vertical nose dive. Moments later, the aircraft slams into the water near Shelter Island Drive. Fortunately, the pilots of the aircraft ejected before the fighter jet crashed.
The US Coast Guard says emergency crews and good Samaritans rescued the pilots shortly after the dramatic incident. As for the cause of the crash, the United States Navy hasn’t released many details. However, the timing of the pilots’ ejection suggests that they knew something was wrong with the aircraft with some notice, per ABC 10 News San Diego.
The aircraft in question was a Boeing EA-18G Growler assigned to the Navy’s Electronic Attack Squadron 135. At a glance, the Boeing jet aircraft looks a lot like the F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet models in the service of the US Navy and Marine Corps. However, the EA-18G Growler is an electronic warfare variant of the Hornet, carrying specialized equipment to jam, disrupt, and otherwise compromise enemy electronics.
Needless to say, it’s an expensive mishap. According to the US Navy, each Boeing EA-18G Growler costs around $67 million to field. That puts the advanced electronic warplane at around $7 million or so more than its more conventional siblings, depending on the spec.
