Post by Admin on Sept 11, 2020 7:01:07 GMT -5
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All four crew members are safe. But what went wrong?
At 3:50 p.m. on Monday, the Hawkeye went down on Wallops Island, the location of a NASA flight facility and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. A video from a local news station showed the aircraft plummeting to Earth, followed by a black cloud of smoke.
The E-2C Hawkeye normally flies with a crew of five: a pilot, copilot, combat information center (CIC) officer, aircraft control officer, and radar officer. The CIC, aircraft control, and radar officers sit in the rear of the plane monitoring data from the AN/APS-145 radar system.
Named for its ability to see threats hundreds of miles away, the Hawkeye is capable of detecting and classifying enemy aircraft, then vectoring in fighters such as the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet or F-35C Joint Strike fighter to intercept. This allows Navy fighters to intercept with their radars off, making them harder to detect.
Getting out of a stricken Hawkeye is not easy. Unlike fighter jets, the propeller-driven E-2C lacks ejection seats for the air crew. Crew members must don parachutes before flight and, in the event of an emergency, unbuckle themselves from their seats, open the side door, and jump out of the aircraft.
All four crew members are safe. But what went wrong?
At 3:50 p.m. on Monday, the Hawkeye went down on Wallops Island, the location of a NASA flight facility and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. A video from a local news station showed the aircraft plummeting to Earth, followed by a black cloud of smoke.
The E-2C Hawkeye normally flies with a crew of five: a pilot, copilot, combat information center (CIC) officer, aircraft control officer, and radar officer. The CIC, aircraft control, and radar officers sit in the rear of the plane monitoring data from the AN/APS-145 radar system.
Named for its ability to see threats hundreds of miles away, the Hawkeye is capable of detecting and classifying enemy aircraft, then vectoring in fighters such as the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet or F-35C Joint Strike fighter to intercept. This allows Navy fighters to intercept with their radars off, making them harder to detect.
Getting out of a stricken Hawkeye is not easy. Unlike fighter jets, the propeller-driven E-2C lacks ejection seats for the air crew. Crew members must don parachutes before flight and, in the event of an emergency, unbuckle themselves from their seats, open the side door, and jump out of the aircraft.