A rescue effort is currently underway, Navy officials said, though it is unclear whether more than one pilot was involved. The aircraft was reportedly a Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet.
“At approximately 10:00 a.m PST an F/A-18E crashed near @NAWS_CL. Search-and-rescue efforts are underway,” the Naval Air Forces tweeted Wednesday.
flynavy✔@flynavy
At approximately 10:00 a.m PST an F/A-18E crashed near @NAWS_CL. Search-and-rescue efforts are underway.
7:33 PM - Jul 31, 2019
A spokesperson for the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office told CNN police helped to secure the area of the crash before the military arrived on the scene.
The Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake is located near Death Valley National Park, approximately 150 miles north of Los Angeles, California.
2018 saw a number of similar accidents with American military aircraft, with at least five non-combat related crashes in 2018, which killed nine US service members, according to Fox News. The accidents prompted calls in Congress to overcome a “crisis” in military aviation.
The F/A-18 is both a fighter and attack aircraft in one, originally developed by McDonnell Douglas - now Boeing - and Northrop for the US Navy and Marine Corps. It is still the workhorse of both service branches, as its fifth-generation replacement the F-35 continues to be plagued by design flaws and performance problems.
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