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       lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
       
       
       ARTICLE VIEW: 
       
       US Navy searching for two crew members after aircraft crash near Mount
       Rainier
       
       By Haley Britzky, CNN
       
       Updated: 
       
       3:04 PM EDT, Wed October 16, 2024
       
       Source: CNN
       
       The US Navy is searching for two crew members after their aircraft
       crashed near Mount Rainier in Washington during a training flight on
       Tuesday.
       
       A US Navy EA-18G Growler aircraft — assigned to the Electronic
       Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130 in Washington — crashed on Tuesday
       afternoon east of Mount Rainier, according to a release from Naval Air
       Forces. The aircraft wreckage also has not been located.
       
       “Aerial operations continued through the night, launching from (Naval
       Air Station) Whidbey Island and searching in the area 30 miles west of
       Yakima, Wash. Responders are facing mountainous terrain, cloudy
       weather, and low visibility as the search is ongoing,” Naval Air
       Forces said Wednesday. “As of 11 a.m. on Oct. 16, neither the crew
       nor wreckage has been located.”
       
       The Navy is working “in coordination with Yakima County tribal and
       local authorities,” Naval Air Forces said Wednesday. Military units
       involved in the search include US Navy Fleet Air Reconnaissance
       Squadron One (VQ-1), Patrol Squadron (VP-46), NAS Whidbey Island Search
       and Rescue, and US Army 4-6 Air Cavalry Squadron out of Joint Base
       Lewis-McChord.
       
       The EA-18G Growler is an electronic warfare aircraft, and variant of
       the F/A-18 Super Hornet. The crash is under investigation, the Navy
       said. The unit the Growler belongs to recently completed a deployment
       aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Middle East. A  said the
       unit “scored the first-ever air-to-air kill by a VAQ squadron in Navy
       history” during the deployment.
       
       “Words can’t do justice to how proud I am of this ‘Zapper’ Team
       which performed their duty in combat amidst incredibly challenging
       circumstances for months on end, frequently not knowing what each day
       would bring,” Cmdr. Carl Ellsworth, the squadron’s commanding
       officer, . “The best of our country is right here at VAQ-130.”
       
       This story has been updated with additional developments.
       
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