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    • Navy plane crashes near Mount Rainier in Washington: reports
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    Navy plane crashes near Mount Rainier in Washington: reports

    Bronwen Cerys Posted on

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    The whereabouts of two Navy crew members remain unknown after their fighter jet crashed east of Mount Rainier, Washington state, on Tuesday, according to reports.

    A US Navy EA-18G Growler was on a routine training flight when it crashed, multiple outlets reported, citing a Navy statement. The aircraft, a variant of the F/A-18 Super Hornet, is part of Electronic Attack Squadron 130, known as “Zappers.”

    A search team, including a US Navy MH-60S helicopter, took off from Whidbey Island north of Seattle to “locate the crew and investigate the crash site,” the Navy said in a news release shared with multiple media outlets .

    USA TODAY left messages with the Navy press office and Naval Air Station Whidbey Island Wednesday morning that were not immediately returned.

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    Crew status still unknown after Growler crash: reports

    According to a news report from the US Naval Institute, the plane is believed to have crashed around 3:20 p.m. Pacific Time.

    Search and rescue crews were then deployed from Whidbey Island, a naval air base in the Pacific Northwest where all of the Navy’s tactical electronic attack squadrons flying the EA-18G Growler are based.

    “As of 7 p.m. on October 15, the status of the two crew members remains unknown,” the broadcaster said in a statement to multiple media outlets.

    According to the Seattle Times, the effort continued Tuesday at 11:30 p.m.

    The cause of the crash is still under investigation. The identities of the crew members were not released.

    Marine aircraft is part of the “Zappers” squadron.

    The aircraft is from Electronic Attack Squadron 130, also known as VAQ-130, based on Whidbey Island. The squadron, the Navy’s oldest electronic warfare squadron, was nicknamed the “Zappers” when it was first commissioned in 1959.

    According to the Navy, the squadron returned in July from a nine-month combat deployment on the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the southern Red Sea, where it conducted attacks against Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen.

    According to the Navy, the first Growler test aircraft entered production in 2004 and made its first flight in 2006. The unit cost of the aircraft built by Boeing is $67 million.

    Eric Lagatta covers breaking and breaking news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]

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