SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — An expert pilot who analyzed fighter jets for the Pentagon was stumped on what could have led a Navy plane to crash into San Diego Bay Wednesday.
“For a modern aircraft with two engines, not in combat, not on the range, just flying around to crash, is just absurd,” said Dr. Rex Rivolo, a pilot who analyzed the F/A-18 aircraft from 1992 – 2009 for the Pentagon.
Two pilots ejected themselves from an EA-18G Growler Wednesday morning above San Diego Bay. They both survived and are in stable condition, the Navy said.
What led the pilots to eject hasn’t yet been released by the military. The Navy said the aircraft crashed while landing. The Growler is a variant in the F/A-18 family of aircraft and combines the Super Hornet fighter jet platform with a “sophisticated electronic warfare suite,” the Navy said.
Rivolo said the aircraft was a “super shining star” when he evaluated it on the ground and rode on it in the air.
“There were never any issues. It performed better than it was designed to do, and it never really had any concerns of any kind. So, the program was really a showpiece of how to do things right.”
But the Growler crash Wednesday in San Diego is the second in just three months raising serious questions.
Last October, two crew members died in a Growler mishap in Washington State. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
Both Growlers involved in the mishaps are from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington and were part of the Electronic Attack Squadron.
Witnesses heard plane before crash
Rivolo had many questions including if the aircraft was at a low altitude and if it was truly on a landing approach like the Navy said.
“We need to know what the flight conditions were at the time and since the crew is alive, we will learn very quickly what the issue was.”
People who live near the crash site told ABC 10News they heard the plane flying above them but in an unusual way.
“It was super super loud and then it just cut out like there was no noise after that, so I was like what’s going on? said Claire Heinz, who lives on a sailboat close to the crash site.
