What happened
A Navy fighter jet and helicopter based off the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz crashed into the South China Sea within 30 minutes of each other Sunday afternoon, the U.S. Pacific Fleet said on social media. President Donald Trump Monday said “bad fuel” could be to blame for the “very unusual” dual crashes.
Who said what
The MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter and F/A-18F Super Hornet jet were on separate “routine operations” when they went down, the Navy said, and all five crew members involved “are safe and in stable condition.” Trump told reporters traveling with him to Japan on Air Force One that he did not think foul play was involved. “They think it might be bad fuel,” he said. “We’re gonna find out. Nothing to hide.”
The F/A-18 was “at least the fourth of the $60 million fighter jets the Navy has lost this year,” CNN said. The other three were destroyed in a “series of mishaps” involving another aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman, The Associated Press said. Two F/A fighter jets “went overboard” into the Red Sea while the third was “mistakenly shot down” by the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg. The half-century-old USS Nimitz is traveling to its home port in Washington state before being decommissioned next year.
What next?
Sunday’s incidents are “under investigation,” the Navy said. Results from the military’s investigations into the USS Truman’s mishaps “have yet to be released,” said the AP.
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