VAW-121 E-2C Hawkeye Lost At Sea

 
(Breaking) Getting early reports that an E-2C Hawkeye assigned to the VAW-121 ("Bluetails") is down in the North Arabian Sea. The crew evidently conducted a controlled bailout and three of the four have been recovered by SAR efforts. Fourth remains missing after four hours.

I can only speculate on what the cause of the mishap was -- according to published reports the crew only notified the ship (after returning from a mission over Afghanistan) that there was a problem and they were conducting a "controlled bailout". Prior to this, there had been only one other successful bailout (where all of the crew got out of the aircraft), that being the VAW-122 bird lost in the East Med due to a fire in the right nacelle behind the firewall. In the 1990's, we lost a couple of aircraft due to inflight fires fed by the hydraulics -- those were not survivable.

For those unfamiliar with the aircraft, the E-2 is the only fixed wing aircraft operating off the carrier today without ejection seats -- because of the arrangement of the aircraft and the overhead radar dome, there is no practical way to eject from the aircraft. Hence, emergency egress in the air is via the main entrance hatch for all five crewmembers (for some reason the VAW-121 aircraft was carrying only four for this mission). although you practice and practice -- and practice some more on the ground, it never is the same as when a real emergency occurs and you find yourself headed for that small door, through a narrow passage between equipment racks with all the possibility of getting caught on something. For the pilots, it is even worse as they have to turn around and step down from the flightdeck to reach the door -- assuming the auto-pilot is still functional and can keep the plane level until everyone is out. Then, upon exit, you have to freefall away from the aircraft and manually release your chute, inflate your preserver, deploy raft, etc.

Overall, the VAW community has been one of the more fortunate when you compare Class A mishaps across the tailhook community - but when something goes really bad, it gets grim in a hurry. Prayers for the crew, their families and the Bluetails. Hits especially close to home as that was my first squadron too, albeit a long time ago. On days like today, we are all Bluetails...

UPDATE

DOD Identifies Navy Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a pilot who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
 
Lt. Miroslav Zilberman, 31, of Columbus, Ohio, died after his E-2C Hawkeye crashed into the Arabian Gulf on March 31, 2010.  The recovery effort was abandoned on April 2, 2010 and his body was not recovered.  Zilberman was assigned to Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 121.
 
For further information related to this release, contact Lt. Cmdr. Philip Rosi at 757-444-3373.

God rest his soul and God bless and comfort his family and next of kin...

 

Comments

[Christina Stewart]

Lt. Miroslav Zilberman, 31, of Columbus, Ohio, Naval Officer/Husband/Father, remained on that aircraft so that the others could survive. The pilot determined the autopilot could not maintain safe level flight for all to egress so he elected to stay so the other would have a chance. His widow was presented with Zilberman's Distinguished Flying Cross at the conclusion of his memorial at NAS Norfolk.

[Fester]

Abrek was remembered yesterday (08 APR) at NS Norfolk. He was awarded a posthumous DFC.

[Steeljaw Scribe]

Sooooo, may be you ought to perhaps read a little closer?

"the E-2 is the only *fixed wing* aircraft operating off the carrier today without ejection seats"

Last time I looked, helos were referred to as *rotary* winged aircraft...
w/r, SJS

[Kiemo]

Sooooooooo, when did the helicopters get ejection seats....or is it that you don't think they are real airplanes hmmmmm?????