Two U.S. Navy Aircraft Crash 30 Minutes Apart Over the South China Sea — All Crew Survive

In a dramatic pair of incidents over the South China Sea, both an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter and an F/A-18F Super Hornet from the USS Nimitz went down within half an hour of each other during routine operations. Remarkably, all five crew members were rescued and are in stable condition.

The first crash occurred around 2:45 p.m. local time, when the Sea Hawk—assigned to the “Battle Cats” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 73—was operating from the Nimitz as part of Carrier Strike Group 11. The helicopter went into the water during standard flight operations. Search-and-rescue teams immediately launched recovery efforts, pulling all three crew members safely from the sea and returning them to the carrier for evaluation.

Just 30 minutes later, an F/A-18F Super Hornet from the “Fighting Redcocks” of Strike Fighter Squadron 22 also went down while conducting flight operations. Both aviators ejected safely before the jet hit the water, and were quickly recovered by rescue crews from the same carrier group.

According to official statements from the U.S. Pacific Fleet, all five service members are “safe and in stable condition,” and investigations into the cause of both accidents are already underway. No weather or mechanical details have yet been released.

The USS Nimitz, the Navy’s oldest active aircraft carrier, has been on what is expected to be its final deployment after more than 50 years of service. The carrier has been operating across the Indo-Pacific region as part of ongoing freedom-of-navigation and maritime security missions in contested waters increasingly shadowed by Chinese forces.

While the survival of all crew members is a relief, the near-simultaneous loss of two frontline aircraft is a sobering reminder of the risks inherent to naval aviation, even in peacetime operations. Both the Sea Hawk and Super Hornet are workhorses of the modern fleet—vital to anti-submarine warfare, strike missions, and carrier defense.