U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers, Navy helicopters and the local sheriff’s office are combing the steep, heavily wooded slopes near Mount Rainier, Wash., in their search for two Navy pilots who have been missing since their jet crashed Tuesday during a training flight.
The Yakima County Sheriff’s Office said the wreckage was found at an elevation of 6,000 feet in a remote area that could not be reached by motor vehicle. Special Forces soldiers were brought in from nearby Joint Base Lewis-McChord because of their expertise in mountaineering, navigation and high-angle rescues using ropes and pulleys.
Aerial search crews found the pilots’ downed EA-18G Growler on Wednesday, crashed along a mountainside east of Mount Rainer, and some 175 miles south of the jet’s home base at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. It took until Friday for teams to reach the wreckage.
Mike Welding, a spokesman for NAS Whidbey Island, told The Washington Post on Saturday that the search for the two pilots was ongoing even after rescuers reached the crash site.
“Personnel on site are methodically searching an expansive area, evaluating debris and searching for information in the snow-covered, wilderness environment,” the Navy said in a news release Friday. “Finding the aircrew continues to be our primary focus.”
The Yakima County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to requests for comment Saturday. And Welding declined to comment further on the situation.
“Our priority is to locate our two aviators as quickly and as safely as possible,” Capt. David Ganci, commander of the Navy unit that oversees the missing pilots, said in the news release. “Adhering to Dept. of Defense procedure, we cannot identify or confirm the names of aircrew involved in a mishap until 24-hours after their next of kin have been notified of their status.”
The Navy said the status of the crew cannot be confirmed until a site assessment of the debris area is completed.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation, according to the Navy. The EA-18G Growler that the two pilots were flying is an electronic warfare variant of the well-known F-18 fighter jet, with a suite of equipment capable of jamming enemy radars and communications.
(c) Washington Post
