Search continues for E-2C crew member - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Search continues for E-2C crew member

More than a day after a Navy E-2C Hawkeye crashed into the North Arabian Sea, the search for a missing aviator continues, Navy officials said.

A reported oil leak forced the crew of four to bail out of the plane; a search-and-rescue team rescued three crew members within 30 minutes of the crash, according to a statement from the Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain.

The Navy withheld the names of the missing crew member pending notification of family members.

Navy 5th Fleet officials said a “mechanical” problem caused the crash, and the Naval Safety Center’s Web site listed it as “an engine oil leak.”

The Hawkeye, from Norfolk, Va.-based Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 121, was returning to the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower following a mission supporting operations in Afghanistan.

The crash occurred at about 2 p.m. local time Wednesday. The crash site was about five miles from the Eisenhower.

Crew members contacted the ship about a mechanical problem and told the tower they planned to do a “controlled bailout” from the plane, said Lt. Matthew Allen, a spokesman for 5th Fleet.

The carrier air wing dispatched a search and rescue teams immediately, and several other rescue aircraft from nearby ships began assisting in the search shortly afterward Navy officials said.

It was at least the third major mishap involving an E-2C Hawkeye in recent years.

In August 2007, Lts. Ryan Betton, Cameron Hall and Jerry Smith were killed when their Hawkeye crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off North Carolina. An investigation was unable to determine the cause of the crash, according to a copy of the Judge Advocate General final report — known as a JAGMAN — obtained by Navy Times. The plane catapulted off the deck of the carrier Harry S. Truman and crashed into the water moments later. The carrier never received any emergency radio transmissions or acknowledgment by the mishap crew, according to the report.

In March 2009, an E-2 Hawkeye veered off a runway in Norfolk and broke its landing gear. An investigation found pilot error and brakes that did not slow down the aircraft quickly enough were the cause.