On Monday, the F / A-18F Super Hornet carrier-based fighter bomber fell into the waters of the Philippine Sea off the southern shores of Japan.
According to the press service of the US Navy, the incident occurred during a routine training flight.
The aircraft was part of the 5th aviation wing, based on the deck of the nuclear aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, assigned to the American naval base Yokosuka in Japan.
The failure of one of the two engines is considered as the preliminary cause of the aviation incident. The crew of two people safely eject. The pilots were reportedly found by search and rescue teams "in good condition" and taken aboard an aircraft carrier for a medical examination by helicopter.
Currently, an operation is underway to search for the wreckage of a fighter, including the so-called black boxes.
Pentagon officials stress that the incident did not affect the aircraft carrier's plans for this zone of the world's oceans, in other words, flights from its deck are not suspended.
The F / A-18F Super Hornet Block III fighter-bomber, similar to a crashed plane, is the most advanced aircraft of this type, which form the basis of the United States naval aircraft carrier fleet.
Currently, F / A-18 Super Hornet airplanes are produced in the single E variant and in the Sparky F variant. They are intended for solving a wide range of tasks, including gaining air superiority, overcoming air defense, launching air strikes using precision weapons regardless of weather conditions and time of day. Side tasks are escorting other types of aircraft, primarily, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft, direct air support for ground units, destruction of ground and sea targets.
This is not the first aviation incident aboard the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan in the fall. In October, immediately after takeoff, the MH-60 Seahawk universal helicopter crashed onto the deck of a floating airfield. Then suffered a few people on board.
