F-18 Pilots Back on Truman, in Good Condition After Crash

By Stephanie Heinatz, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.

Jan. 7–The three Navy aviators assigned to the Naval Station Norfolk-based USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier who crashed Monday in the Persian Gulf have been rescued and taken back to the ship.

The aviators, flying in an F/A-18 E and F model Super Hornets, are in good condition, according to the Navy. Each was able to eject from the planes before the crash.

The incident is under investigation.

“The Super Hornets…were providing en route close air support from Iraq when they crashed,” according to a Navy press release.

The USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group and its nearly 7,500 sailors left Hampton Roads out on a seven-month deployment in November. The Oceana-based Carrier Air Wing Three deployed with the Truman. Strike fighter squadrons with the air wing include VFAs 32, 11, 37 and 105. News of the crash came shortly after the military confirmed a Sunday incident where three U.S. Navy ships “took evasive actions after five Iranian boats buzzed the ships transiting the Straits of Hormuz,” according to a Defense Department press release.

The U.S. Navy ships, which were headed into the Persian Gulf, involved in the confrontation are home ported on the West Coast.

A Pentagon spokesman said the Iranian vessels showed potential hostile intent as they approached the U.S. Navy ships in a fast, reckless and dangerous manner.

The U.S. sailors were “prepared to take appropriate actions,” according to the Defense Department, “but there was no engagement.”

—–

To see more of the Daily Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dailypress.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.