'Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!' Military training jet plunges into ocean off California coast

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Set us as preferred 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.“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, according to an audio broadcast from @liveatc.

The air traffic controller tried to direct the pilot to the nearest airport — Paso Robles, about 60 miles away.At about 7 p.m., U.S.Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach was notified of a downed aircraft in the Pacific six miles northwest of Morro Bay with one person aboard, according to Coast Guard Southwest District spokesperson Kenneth Wiese.Manuel J.

Delarosa, a public affairs specialist for Navy Region Southwest, said that a search and rescue crew based out of Naval Aviation Station Lemoore rescued the pilot and took him to a trauma facility.The pilot’s condition is unknown, but he may have ejected from the aircraft before it crashed.

The Hawker Hunter, a British-designed Cold War-era fighter jet, is equipped with a Martin-Baker ejection seat that allows the pilot to blast out of the cockpit in an emergency.The aircraft that crashed Tuesday was operated by Airborne Tactical Advantage Company, a private government contractor that helps train crews with the U.S.Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.

Its motto is “Training Today’s Warriors for Tomorrow’s Challenges.”According to FlightRadar24, the aircraft, which went by call sign SNAKE4, was conducting exercises off the coast of Monterey County and San Luis Obispo County.ATAC states on its website that it deploys the Hawker Hunter in a variety of roles: “The aircraft’s steady performance allows ATAC to use it as a transonic fighter in the air-to-air role, ...