Warbird Information Exchange

The search is on for the crew of a Navy plane that crashed shortly after takeoff from the Norfolk-based USS Harry S. Truman.




Watch the report The E-2C Hawkeye with three people on board went down around 11:15 p.m. Wednesday. The carrier was about 150 miles southeast of the Virginia Capes conducting routine training operations at the time.

The plane is from Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron ONE TWENTY (VAW 120), the Greyhawks.
Officials confirm to 13News that a debris field was found about 85 miles off the North Carolina coast.

The 110-foot Coast Guard Cutter Block Island, home ported in Fort Macon, N.C., has been on scene throughout the morning. An HH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City is there as well.

A second Coast Guard C-130 Search Plane is expected to leave base around 4:30 p.m. to relieve the C-130 crew that went out earlier today.

Navy assets involved in the search are from USS Harry S. Truman and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The Navy says VAW 120 is the east coast E-2C/C-2A Fleet Replacement Squadron based at Naval Station Norfolk and trains pilots and Naval Flight Officers in both aircraft before they are assigned to operational fleet squadrons.


Also Online

USS Harry S. Truman Website

VAW 120 Website
"Anyone who flies off a carrier at night, it's the most demanding, I think it's the most demanding, flight operations in the world,” said retired Navy Captain Ralph “Ricky” Ricardo, who was a career Hawkeye pilot.

Depending on weather conditions at night, Ricardo says crew members can face what he describes as an "inky blackness" making it impossible to tell sky from water. The only course, in that case, is to rely on the Hawkeye's instruments.

The Hawkeye is considered one of the safest planes used by the Navy. The last major incident with one dates back to the early nineties.

"I can't imagine what course of events may have transpired that caused this plane to crash,” said Ricardo. “I don't know."

The E-2C Hawkeye is a twin-engine turbo prop aircraft used for airborne command, control, and early warning. It normally carries a crew of five including two pilots and three NFOs.

A Navy spokesman told WVEC.com the Truman left Norfolk on Monday for routine training operations off the Virginia Capes.

The Navy community, as most know, is a close one with smaller tight communities within it. Those in the Hawkeye one are ready to see the three aviators' families through this time, no matter what the outcome is.

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REMEMBER THE SERGEANT PILOTS!

darn...hope they find 'em alive.

SN

Me too, but I don't think they had too much of a chance.

My cousin died on the Bonnie Dick during Vietnam, sort of like that, they sank in a helo and never recovered him or the crew. His name is on the Wall in DC Section 15E

Hi,

Very bad news

I have just write a book about this beautfiul airplane.

Spang