Posted on 11/22/2017 12:39:04 AM PST by csvset
TOKYO (AP) — An aircraft carrying 11 crew and passengers crashed into the Pacific Ocean Wednesday while on the way to the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, the Navy said.
The Japan-based 7th Fleet said in a statement that the search and rescue operation was launched from the carrier.
“Personnel recovery is underway and their condition will be evaluated by USS Ronald Reagan medical staff,” the statement said.
It said the ship was operating in the Philippine Sea, which is east of the Philippines, when the crash occurred at 2:45 p.m. Japan time. The names of the crew and passengers are being withheld pending next of kin notification.
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, the Navy said.
The 7th Fleet has had two fatal accidents in Asian waters this year, leaving 17 sailors dead and prompting the removal of eight top Navy officers from their posts, including the 7th Fleet commander.
The USS John S. McCain and an oil tanker collided near Singapore in August, leaving 10 U.S. sailors dead. Seven sailors died in June when the USS Fitzgerald and a container ship collided off Japan.
The Navy has concluded that the collisions were avoidable and resulted from widespread failures by the crews and commanders, who didn’t quickly recognize and respond to unfolding emergencies. A Navy report recommended numerous changes to address the problems, ranging from improved training to increasing sleep and stress management for sailors.
Ah. I missed that, I did not read the linked article (only the excerpt) and thought they were all missing.
Well, that is good news for the ones they found. Interesting that they don’t know if there were 10 or 11 on the plane...
It wouldn’t surprise me if people are cutting corners on administrative details such as manifests and such. That would be indicative of poor leadership, and we have seen solid evidence of that.
That is something you don’t want to cut corners on, which this event illustrates. I am going to chalk it up for the time being to simple miscommunication between the USN and the press until we hear more detail.
Let’s hope that’s true and be thankful for it.
This is the first C-2A Greyhound to crash in a long time. A FIRST for passengers and crew to survive crashing (ditching) at sea. Have flown it. It’s a big hydraulically controlled whale sized cargo plane. True miracle they were not all killed.
All praised to the skillful pilots, brave aircrew and passengers.
Yes. All eleven rescued would be a wonderful thing this Thanksgiving’s Eve.
A wonderful thing for them and all their loved ones, they would truly know the meaning of Thanksgiving.
Agreed. I have always thought it was a great plane, though I have a soft spot for the old Grumman C1A COD!
I remember seeing those take off...they would be on the fantail, and when the engines revved up, the plane seemed to crouch or squat, almost like it was gathering itself to hurl itself into the air...how I loved them.
And I loved seeing them arrive...Mail!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sigh, nowadays, I guess they don’t have that feeling...everything is probably email or something.
I loved mail. I wrote a lot, and got a lot...and I loved seeing them unload those sacks!
I never flew in one, but looking at them, I didn’t envy anyone who had to get out of one if it ditched.
Always looked like a deathtrap to me (those and the E2)
“eight of the 10 to 11”
Ten to eleven? If one of those souls isn’t a spook, our Navy has more problems than an aging fleet.
Oh, Lord. This is NOT a good time of year to be in those waters.
Once upon a time I was a C-1A COD Aircraft Commander (Pilot). Many hours and traps in WESTPAC’s VRC-50 based Cubi Point Philippines. Trained for and also flew C-2 on occasion. C-1A was a wonderful little transport plane. In the 1975-78 time frame it was an expendable back up for Charlie Tuna. Meaning, we regularly flew training / proficiency flights all over the Western Rim of the Pacific Ocean. Chasing down USS Midway, Enterprise, Ranger, Oriskany, Hancock, Kitty Hawk at sea. Daytime overheads, land off load, reload and cat launch or deck run home. That was Subic City, Taipei, Atsugi, ETC. Good duty.
USN plans to replace the C-2A with the Osprey. Good luck with that. No cure for stupid.
Thanks for your service!
I lived in Subic as a dependent, my dad was XO of the base...I spent many hours wandering around the flight line that overlooked the officers beach below. This was in the late Sixties, and nobody seemed to care if a kid was poking his head inside wheel wells and looking at planes...I never had anyone tell me to get lost, and actually had a few pilots let me sit in the cockpit! (I did get nabbed once for stupidly walking across the runway to get to the beach on the other side...they sent out a jeep with a checkered flag and bodily lifted me into the jeep where they took me back for “interrogation”...I wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer!
You have had a unique experience...yours is not a huge community, I would think. You saw the world...:)
You and I served in the same time period, I was on the JFK in the Med.
And I agree with your assessment on replacing the C-2A with the Osprey. I think the Osprey will indeed turn out to be a fine platform as they learn over the years how best to use it, but I don’t think it is suited to that role at all.
Like using a sledgehammer to drive in a carpet tack. Doesn’t seem cost effective at all.
Kind of what I was thinking.
E-2 & C-2 are both death traps. Nobody has parachutes. Flight controls all hydraulic. Turbo props. Not aware of any successful E-2 Ditching either.
Prayers up for all the USS Reagan. Especially Ms. Lindsey
I didn’t see the name...who is Ms. Lindsey? Did you see it somewhere else?
I was surprised that eight people survived, so I surmise there was some well executed survival procedures involved there, if not a degree of luck...
I would disagree with that, and if I had to have 20 possible causes to list in order of likelihood, that would be #20 if it even made the list.>>>>>>>>>>>>
Each to his own. But look no further on how the “Beau” “ Bergdhal and “Chelsea” Manning cases turned out. Both of these results were accomplished because of an liberal fascist ideologically dedicated hierarchy within the military, dedicated to Obama, Saul Alinsky Strategy, and the disempowerment of Americas all volunteer military.Its a broken machine, and to destroy our military, the goal of these Liberal Fascists will be to sent it into war, unprepared, ill equipped, and demoralized, with a deviant elite corn hole-ing themselves and jerking each other off as the country proceeds into oblivion. Nice plan eh? That’s the fact that Mattis has to work with. And I think he is doing a damn good job.
But a lot of purging, cleaning and head rolling has to occur.No way around it.
That’s just the flag sticking up on top of a whole mountain of infrastructure of compromised military administration who are located at key decision points in the hierarchy. I can assure you that the sabotage will always appear deniable but none the less, it is present through out various sections of our military. And it needs to be fixed.
Ask yourself what Chesty Puller would do.
President Trump tried by ending the trans gender status of soldiers but the courts stopped him.Hopefully he will have more to come that actually works.The swamp is not just in Washington, its laced throughout the military.
Its also the same story within the IRS and within the FBI.
Flight crews are well trained and equipped by riggers with survival vests and rafts.
The point I was making is that having experience in Aviation, the VAST and OVERWHELMING percentage of root causes are rolled up into crew error and a smaller percentage of equipment failure. Everything else is miniscule.
But I think we agree on the state of the military, and I am glad to see someone else who is sympathetic to the enormity of the job that Mattis has to deal with when evaluating his performance. There are few other people I would want in that place right now. If anyone can help, he can.
Was this the plane that went down?
Sounds like some excellent work by the pilot and crew to have that many sailors rescued.
E-2 Hawkeye
The Grumman E-2 Hawkeye is an American all-weather, aircraft carrier-based tactical Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft. The twin turboprop aircraft was designed and developed in the 1950s by Grumman for the United States Navy as a replacement for the E-1 Tracer. The aircraft has been progressively updated with the latest variant, the E-2D, first flying in 2007.
The aircraft was nicknamed “Super Fudd” because it replaced “Willy Fudd” (the E-1 Tracer). In the present day, it is most commonly nicknamed the “Hummer” due to the distinctive sound of its twin turboprop engines. Designed as a flying radar station, the Hawkeye is sometimes called “the affordable AWACS,” and is just what the Navy needs to guard its aircraft carrier battle groups and to direct friendly warplanes when the action begins.
Today the US Navy flies 75 E-2C Hawkeye-2000 and plans to maintain a fleet of at least 70 aircraft in operational service well into the 2020s. Each carrier air wing has a four-Hawkeve squadron, although a back-up aircraft is usually available as well. During typical flight operations, an E-2C is airborne at all times-the Hawkeye is the first aircraft to take off and the last to land.
Very true, even more so because each of them understands their lives could depend directly on whether they absorb and understand the training, and the survival equipment will work as is should...
Hence the “keg of beer for the riggers” from anyone who ejects...:)
It is a variant of the E-2C Hawkeye. This one (C-2A Greyhound) is a variant for delivering supplies and personnel to the fleet.
Thanks!
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