'Mayday' Broadcast Signals Emergency As Fighter Jet Ejects Off Morro Bay Coast
Pilot rescued by Navy after engine trouble near Paso Robles
The pilot of a military training jet was rescued by the U.S. Navy on Tuesday evening after the aircraft plunged into the Pacific Ocean about six miles northwest of Morro Bay. The distress call broadcast from the cockpit has been verified by audio logs captured by @liveatc. 'Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! I have lost thrust in my engine,' the pilot of the single-seat Mk.58 Hawker Hunter fighter jet communicated to an air traffic controller. The air traffic controller attempted to guide the pilot to the nearest airport, which is Paso Robles, located approximately 60 miles away.
According to John Rupp, the director of global military sales at Airborne Tactical Advantage Co., the pilot encountered difficulties around 6:40 p.m. Despite the loss of engine power, the pilot successfully ejected from the aircraft before it hit the water. Cmdr. Amelia Umayam, a public affairs specialist for Naval Air Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, confirmed that a search-and-rescue crew based out of Naval Air Station Lemoore retrieved the civilian pilot from the ocean about 7:30 p.m.
'Our pilot is safe and sound,' Rupp stated on Wednesday. The pilot was retrieved by a Navy search-and-rescue helicopter and transported to a hospital in Fresno. Rupp expressed hope that the pilot would be released from the medical facility that day. The company, which operates the aircraft, assists in training crews for the U.S. Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. The aircraft, a British-designed Cold War-era fighter, is equipped with a Martin-Baker ejection seat designed to allow the pilot to exit the cockpit in an emergency.
FlightRadar24 data shows the aircraft, which flew under the call sign SNAKE4, was conducting exercises off the coasts of Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties. 'His flight was part of a contract that we support for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and we routinely fly with them out on the West Coast,' Rupp noted. However, he could not discuss the specifics of yesterday’s mission due to security issues. The company, known by the motto 'Training Today’s Warriors for Tomorrow’s Challenges,' uses the Hawker Hunter in various roles. These include serving as a transonic fighter in the air-to-air role, acting as a stable platform for air-to-surface missions, and serving as a versatile opponent in fleet integrated training exercises.
This incident is not the first time an ATAC-operated Hawker Hunter has suffered a loss of engine power off the California coast. In a previous event last October, another Hawker Hunter went down in the Big Sur area, resulting in a pilot rescue. A report from the National Transportation Safety Board found that the cause of the power loss could not be determined. The pilot indicated that he and another aircraft were providing adversary and tactical training for U.S. military aircrews. While en route to the training area, the pilot reduced engine power upon learning the fighter element was about 10 minutes late. Shortly after, the airplane experienced a complete loss of engine power. The pilot attempted multiple restarts without success before deciding to eject. The wreckage was not recovered from the ocean.
In another occurrence in 2022, an ATAC-operated Hawker Hunter experienced a partial loss of engine power and crashed in the Atlantic Ocean about 40 miles southeast of Wilmington, North Carolina. After two unsuccessful attempts to restore engine power, the NTSB report stated the pilot ejected at 3,000 feet above sea level and was seriously injured. Following the recovery of the wreckage from the ocean, the report revealed that a bearing had failed in the high-pressure fuel pump. Regarding these incidents, Rupp stated that the company’s fleet undergoes a routine, scheduled inspection regimen. 'Our company flies on a contract, and we get a flight clearance from the United States Navy,' Rupp explained.
'We don’t believe that there’s any overarching technical deficiencies in the aircraft, obviously, and we wouldn’t be able to gain a flight clearance from the Navy if they were deficient,' Rupp added. He noted that the aircraft undergoes a turnaround inspection every time it flies. Following Tuesday's crash, Kenneth Weise, a spokesperson for the Coast Guard Southwest District, stated that Coast Guard crews searched the area for wreckage but did not locate any pieces of the downed aircraft. 'It was already really dark at that point,' Weise remarked. The crews returned to base shortly after the pilot had been rescued. Weise estimated the jet likely carried between 400 and 1,000 gallons of fuel. Consequently, crews will investigate whether there are any navigational hazards or signs of pollution in the area. He urged all mariners to navigate with caution and report any debris or pollution to U.S. Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach.
First reported by LA Times: California.
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