Navy Pilots Rescued After F/A-18 Crash in Virginia
Navy pilots were rescued on Wednesday from the waters off Virginia after their F/A-18 Super Hornet went down during a training mission. The incident occurred around 10 a.m., according to Navy Atlantic spokesperson Jackie Parashar Chut. A search and rescue team found the pilot around 11:21 a.m. and transported them to a nearby hospital. The aircraft will remain in the water while the Navy investigates what happened.
After the investigation wraps up, the Navy may choose to order a safety standdown, which is essentially a pause in operations to focus on safety training and risk mitigation.
This incident follows a string of F/A-18 accidents. For example, in May, a Super Hornet ended up in the Red Sea after failing to land on the USS Harry S. Truman, although both pilots managed to eject safely. Just a week ago, another jet fell off Truman’s deck during towing operations.
Interestingly, the Navy has also confirmed that an F-35 fighter jet went down near a California base, but the pilot was reportedly safe as well.
Back in December, another Super Hornet from the Naval Aviation Administration’s Strike Fighter Squadron 11 at Oceana was shot down in a friendly fire incident in the Red Sea.
Each F/A-18 is estimated to cost around $67 million. A former senior defense official noted that the recent crash is significant, particularly amid the various challenges currently facing the Navy. Officials remarked that it’s curious how media attention appears more focused on F-35s and V-22s when accidents happen, whereas the older Super Hornets seem to get less scrutiny.
One insider familiar with naval procurement mentioned that such accidents were somewhat expected. This is actually one of the reasons the Navy plans to purchase 17 more Super Hornets in 2024.
Since 2015, the F/A-18 and its variants—including the F/A-18E, F/A-18F, and EA-18G—have been involved in 42 Class A flight accidents. Data from Navy Safety Command indicates this translates to about 4.2 Class A accidents annually, or roughly 2.18 per 100,000 flight hours. For context, the average Class A accident rate for all manned naval aircraft was 2.29 per 100,000 flight hours.
In both 2023 and 2024, the Navy recorded seven Class A flight accidents each year, with three such incidents occurring by August 2025, including the recent F/A-18 crash. The F/A-18 fleet has also seen a significant number of Class B and Class C accidents over the past decade, raising concerns about safety and operational readiness within the Navy.
