Navy jet crash near Mt. Rainier: Aviation expert weighs in

Navy jet wreckage found near Mount Rainier, crew still missing

Crews have found the wreckage of a Navy jet that crashed east of Mount Rainier on Tuesday, but its two crew members remain missing.

YAKIMA COUNTY, Wash. - A Navy fighter jet crashed near Mount Rainier on Tuesday, and despite discovering the wreckage, the status of the crew members remains unknown.

The U.S. Navy confirmed that an EA-18G Growler, an electronic warfare aircraft from the 'Zappers' of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130, crashed during a routine training flight at 3:23 p.m.

U.S. Navy plane captains help pilots make ready two EA-18G Growlers from the Electronic Attack Squadron 130 (VAQ-130 Zappers) prior to a training sortie as part of the Red Flag 22-2 exercise at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, June 14, 2022. (U.S. Air

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On Wednesday, military aerial search crews located the wreckage, but the two pilots are still missing.

A helicopter from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and Yakima County Search and Rescue crews are actively searching for the two crew members.

Many questions are arising about the crash, including the purpose of the Growler jet, what might have caused the incident, whether the pilots ejected and why locating the crash site took so long.

FOX 13 spoke with aviation expert and former pilot John Nance on 'Good Day Seattle' Wednesday morning, hours before aerial crews discovered the wreckage, to gain insights from his expertise.

Navy plane crashes near WA's Mount Rainier: Aviation expert interview

The search for the pilots of a Navy jet that crashed near Mount Rainier on Tuesday is still underway. To talk more about the plane and the search operation, we bring in aviation expert and former pilot John Nance.

What is the Navy EA-18G Growler, and what does it do?

"The Growler is an aircraft that provides all the sophistication of the earlier Grummon aircraft that could go up and jam enemy radars, radios and do all sorts of sophisticated electronic things to deny the enemy the capability of being able to communicate and guide whatever it is they're guiding," said Nance.

The Boeing EA-18G Growler fighter jet is designed to fly low to disrupt, deceive, or deny military electronic systems.

These low-flying training exercises have become a nuisance for residents of the Whidbey Island area. After the Navy authorized an expansion of its Growler program in March 2019, the community experienced an increase of 110,000 flights roaring overhead each year. This surge in activity led to a lawsuit from the Washington State Attorney General's Office, which asserted that the Growler jet program failed to properly consider the impact of noise on health, classroom learning, and local wildlife.

Is it rare for a Navy EA-18G Growler jet to crash?

"It's very rare, certainly in training missions, but it's not unknown," said Nance. "These are powerful airplanes with twin engines and plenty of sophistication in their navigation. So, even though we have no clue at this point, it has disappeared.

What may have caused the Navy EA-18G Growler to crash near Mt. Rainier?

"What it sounds very much like is a thing called 'Controlled Flight into Terrain' (CFIT), when you have the aircraft under control and it is basically piloted into the wrong place. But we don't know that for sure," said Nance. "The fact that we didn't have emergency locator transmitters and that there was no communication from the pilots is a very grim indicator."

Could Mt. Rainier's weather conditions have caused the Navy Growler to crash?

"A powerful jet like the EA-18G is really not affected much," said Nance. "You can power yourself through just about anything."

"For airplanes, it can be extremely dangerous because you have air flowing over the mountain, which is displaced upward, and then it's displaced downward again," said Nance. "You have a thing called ‘rotor’ that often develops when you see that cap cloud over Rainier. If you fly into that, you can end up turning upside down."

MEDITERRANEAN SEA (Dec. 11, 2016) Petty Officer 3rd Class Alexis Rey, from Stratford, Conn., conducts pre-flight checks on an EA-18G Growler assigned to the Zappers of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130 on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier US

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Did the Navy pilots eject from the EA-18G Growler?

"If they had ejected, they have plenty of equipment, including radios, to be able to get people to know that they’re on the ground and where they are," said Nance. "I was hoping that would be the aftermath of the initial report yesterday, but we have not heard that. So, if they have been in contact and they are on the ground, that would be wonderful, but I think at this point in time, we would have already heard that."

Were the Navy pilots who crashed trained for this type of emergency?

"Well, I’m not sure that this has the indication if there was no ejection or anything they could have prepared for," said Nance. "These crews are highly trained, not just in the electronic warfare portion, which is what these jets [Growlers] are all about, but in terms of the flight characteristics and the power of the airplane, how to navigate, all these elements – these are all absolutely top-flight."

U.S. Navy Lt. Parker Bailey signals the launch of an E/A-18G Growler, attached to the "Zappers" of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130, aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) in the Gulf of Oman Nov. 20, 2023. (U.S. Navy photo

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Why did finding the missing Navy EA-18G Growler jet near Mt. Rainier take so long?

The plane crashed on Tuesday, and the wreckage was discovered on Wednesday. However, when FOX 13 interviewed aviation expert John Nance hours before aerial crews discovered the wreckage, he noted how difficult it is to find the crash site of a fighter jet in snow-covered terrain.

"Well, you've got an aircraft that, if it flew into terrain at probably 250 to 300 knots (287 – 345 mph), it's going to punch a small hole, and you're not going to find a lot of stuff looking at snow," said Nance. "That's part of the problem when you're looking at an emergency situation involving a snow-covered mountain, or any portion of it, or any flank of it—and forests on top of it. So no, it's not unusual that a situation like this—if it was CFIT—it would be a very small scar on the horizon."

What is the protocol in a search like this for a military crash?

"Protocol is we – I say 'we', I’m Air Force, but the Air Force, Navy, we go all out to do everything possible to locate not only where the aircraft is and where the crew is, but what the condition is and if there’s any possible rescue," said Nance.

The investigation into what caused the crash is still ongoing. If Nance's prediction about this incident being a "CFIT crash" is correct, he is certain that the plane will be found. He says it's difficult to locate a plane's crash site in the first hours of the search, especially in the daylight if there's snow cover.

ATLANTIC OCEAN (Jan. 18, 2020) Sailors operate the arresting gear as an E/A 18G Growler, assigned to the "Zappers" of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130, prepares to land on the flight deck the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69). (U

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