About 6:40 p.m., the pilot ran into difficulty, but was able to eject from the aircraft before it crashed into the water, said John Rupp, director of global military sales at Airborne Tactical Advantage Co., a private government contractor that operates the aircraft. The company helps train crews with the U.S. Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. <\/p>\n
A British-designed Cold War-era fighter jet, the Hawker Hunter is equipped with a Martin-Baker ejection seat that allows the pilot to blast out of the cockpit in an emergency.<\/p>\n
Cmdr. Amelia Umayam, a public affairs specialist for Naval Air Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, said a search-and-rescue crew based out of Naval Air Station Lemoore rescued the civilian pilot from the ocean about 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur pilot is safe and sound,\u201d Rupp said Wednesday, noting the pilot was picked up by a Navy search-and-rescue helicopter and brought to a hospital in Fresno. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping he\u2019s going to be released today.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to FlightRadar24, the aircraft, which went by call sign SNAKE4, was conducting exercises off the coast of Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis 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,\u201d Rupp said. \u201cI can\u2019t speak to the specifics of yesterday\u2019s mission because of security issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
ATAC \u2014 a company with the motto<\/a> \u201cTraining Today\u2019s Warriors for Tomorrow\u2019s Challenges\u201d \u2014 states on its website<\/a> that it deploys the Hawker Hunter in a variety of roles: \u201cThe aircraft\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n This is not the first time a Hawker Hunter operated by ATAC suffered a loss of engine power off the California coast.<\/p>\n A 1959 Hawker Hunter Mk.58 (F58A) flying near Naval Air Facility, Atsugi.<\/p>\n (Damon Coulter \/ LightRocket via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Last October, another Hawker Hunter went down in the Big Sur area, prompting a rescue of the pilot. A report by the National Transportation Safety Board found the reason for the loss of engine power could not be determined. <\/p>\n The pilot said that he and another aircraft were providing adversary and tactical training for U.S. military aircrews, according to the report. While en route to the training area, the pilot reduced the engine power when he learned the fighter element was running about 10 minutes late. Not long after, the airplane experienced a complete loss of engine power.<\/p>\n The pilot attempted to restart the engine multiple times, with no success. He then decided to eject. The airplane was not recovered from the ocean.<\/p>\n In 2022, another Hawker Hunter operated by ATAC experienced a partial loss of engine power and crashed in the Atlantic Ocean about 40 miles southeast of Wilmington, N.C. After two unsuccessful attempts to restore engine power, the NTSB report said, the pilot ejected at 3,000 feet above sea level and was seriously injured. <\/p>\n After the wreckage was recovered from the ocean, the report said, an examination revealed that a bearing failed in the high-pressure fuel pump.<\/p>\n Asked about the incidents, Rupp said the company\u2019s fleet is subject to a routine, scheduled inspection regimen. <\/p>\n \u201cOur company flies on a contract, and we get a flight clearance from the United States Navy,\u201d Rupp said. \u201cWe don\u2019t believe that there\u2019s any overarching technical deficiencies in the aircraft, obviously, and we wouldn\u2019t be able to gain a flight clearance from the Navy if they were deficient. \u201c<\/p>\n \u201cThey do a turnaround inspection every time they fly,\u201d Rupp added. <\/p>\n After Tuesday\u2019s crash, Coast Guard Southwest District spokesperson Kenneth Weise said Coast Guard crews searched the area for any wreckage, but did not find any pieces of the downed aircraft. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was already really dark at that point,\u201d Weise said. \u201cThey ended up returning to base sometime after the person had already been rescued.\u201d<\/p>\n Weise said the jet would likely have had about 400 to 1,000 gallons of fuel on board, so crews would investigate if there are any navigational hazards or signs of pollution. He urged all mariners \u201cto navigate the area with caution and report any debris or pollution\u201d in the area to U.S. Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The pilot of a military training jet was rescued by the U.S. Navy on Tuesday evening after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7271,186346,7,1595,9,8,110136,10853,186345,3289,178688,2663,21659,5853,3729,80943,186347,31756],"class_list":["post-473874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-aircraft","tag-atac-state","tag-california","tag-california-coast","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-engine","tag-exercise","tag-hawker-hunter-fighter-jet","tag-loss","tag-mayday","tag-mile","tag-ocean","tag-pilot","tag-report","tag-rescue-crew","tag-training-area","tag-tuesday-evening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790227695_941_.jpeg\")
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