Search and rescue forces were looking Wednesday morning for the two-man crew of a Navy EA-18G Growler electronic warfare fighter that crashed near Mount Rainier in Washington on Tuesday. A Navy MH-60S helicopter and other search and rescue crews launched soon after the crash to search for the crew and examine the crash site.
A Navy spokesperson told Task & Purpose Wednesday that search and rescue efforts were “ongoing.”
The Navy released no details on the crash other than that the plane went down during a “routine training missing” just after 3 p.m. on Tuesday. The fighter jet crashed, the Navy said, “east of Mount Rainier,” which sits about halfway between Seattle and Yakima. Weather across that region was fairly mild during the time the Navy said the plane went down.
The plane was based at Whidbey Island as part of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130. Whidbey Island is home to nearly all of the Navy’s EA-18Gs and its initial schoolhouse for pilots and flight officers assigned to the plane. VAQ-130 is part of Carrier Air Wing 3, which is attached to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier.
The EA-18G Growler is a variant of the FA-18 fighter with weapons and electronic systems dedicated to electronic warfare tasks, like finding and attacking enemy radar locations.