Military training jet plunges into sea off California coast. What we know

A contracted pilot flying a Navy training mission ejected from a fighter jet that crashed into the ocean off the Central Coast of California on Tuesday night after experiencing a total engine failure.

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Radio traffic captured the jet’s harrowing final moments with the pilot sending out an emergency “mayday” call as the military plane plunged toward the ocean near Morro Bay at a speed of over 10,000 feet per minute, according to Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast aviation data shared by Squawk, an aviation alert page on X.

The plane was flying at an altitude of over 32,000 feet when it suddenly began to drop, losing signal at 3,425 feet, according to Squawk.

“Mayday, mayday, mayday, I have lost thrust in my engine,” the pilot could be heard calling over the radio as an air traffic controller tried to direct him to the nearest airport in Paso Robles.

The aircraft, a single-seat, transonic MK-58A Hawker Hunter fighter jet, registration N345AX, was conducting exercises off the Monterey and San Luis Obispo County coasts with at least three other planes, flight tracker FlightRadar24 showed.

It was operated by private military contractor Airborne Tactical Advantage Company, also known as ATAC, which helps train crews from the U.S. Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.

“ATAC deploys the Hawker Hunter in a variety of roles,” the military contractor’s website said. “The aircraft’s steady performance allows ATAC to use it as a transonic fighter in the air-to-air role, as a stable, precise platform in the air-to-surface role, and the aircraft is a versatile opponent in all fleet integrated training exercises.”

It had taken off from Point Mugu Naval Air Station near Oxnard, Naval Base Ventura County Installation Public Affairs Officer Nichole Went told The Tribune.

The flight tracker shows the jet, call sign SNAKE4, performing oval exercises off Monterey Bay, then flying south at a distance from the other planes before meeting up off San Simeon with one of them, call sign VIPER1, and flying down along the SLO County coast.

Then, at 6:49 p.m., SNAKE4 disappears from the radar off the coast of Harmony Headlands State Park, five-and-a-half miles northwest of Morro Bay.

A video posted to the SLO County News Facebook group showed lights blinking inside an offshore fog bank near the Cayucos coastline around the time of the crash.

Around 7:39 p.m. Coast Guard ship in the area of the crash could “smell jet fuel in the air,” but in the dark and fog of the night, couldn’t locate any plane parts or wreckage, Coast Guard Southwest District spokesperson Kenneth Wiese told The Tribune.

A Navy search-and-rescue helicopter had already flown by and rescued the pilot, who was transported to a Fresno hospital for medical evaluation, Airborne Tactical Advantage Company spokesperson John Rupp told The Tribune. He had ejected before the jet hit the water.

FlightAware showed the path of the Navy helicopter, LASSO03 out of Lemoore Naval Air Station, leaving the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport at 6:48 p.m. and heading to the area of the crash.

Its signal goes dark from 7:11 to 7:30 p.m., then resurfaces on the radar heading to Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno at 8:10 p.m.

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A spokesperson from Naval Air Forces confirmed that a MH-60S Seahawk helicopter conducted an open-ocean recovery of the civilian pilot around 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

As of Wednesday morning, the pilot was in good condition and being evaluated at the hospital, Rupp said.

In the chaos of the crash, the Coast Guard only learned of the Navy rescue from the Terminal Radar Approach at the San Luis Obispo airport, Wiese said.

After the crash, VIPER1 and another jet returned to Point Mugu, where VIPER1 also took off from.

No wreckage from SNAKE4 had been recovered by Wednesday afternoon, Rupp told The Tribune. In fact, no clean up crews were actively searching for plane parts, and they may not conduct recovery at all.

“There will be some analysis done on whether that’s possible or not,” he said.

Same fighter jet crashed off CA coast a year prior

It is currently unclear what exactly went wrong with jet’s engine on Tuesday night — but the same type of jet went down in a nearly identical crash almost one year ago.

According to a National Transportation Safety Board aviation investigation report, an ATAC MK-58A Hawker Hunter, registration N335AX, crashed off the coast of Big Sur on Oct. 15 due to total loss of engine power during a U.S. Armed Forces adversary and tactical training flight.

While en route to the training area, the pilot was informed that another plane would be about 10 minutes late, so he reduced the engine power and slowed the airplane to conserve fuel, the report said. Then, the engine stopped.

“The pilot executed the engine malfunction checklist, attempted multiple restarts, however, despite his attempts, the engine would not restart,” the report said.

Similarly to Tuesday’s crash, the pilot ejected before impact.

The National Transportation Safety Board determined the cause of the crash to be complete loss of engine power, but because the plane was not recovered from the ocean, the reason for the engine malfunction could not be determined, the report said.

History of the lost Hawker Hunter

Prior to its most recent stint as a training aircraft for ATAC, the MK-58A Hawker Hunter had a colorful history under military and private ownership.

Built for the Royal Air Force in 1956 as a Mark F.4 XF947 plane, the craft was later converted to an MK-58A after being purchased by Hawker Siddeley Aviation in 1971 as part of a contract with the Swiss Air Force, which used it for training purposes until 1996.

The craft then entered private ownership under Heritage Aviation, which repainted it with a canary yellow, orange and star-spangled midnight color scheme and featured it at airshows across the United Kingdom under the name Miss Demeanour.

Its time at airshows came to an end in 2017, when Heritage Aviation sold the craft again, eventually ending up under the ownership of Hunter Aviation International Inc.

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