News

Actions

“Tactical pause” issued for Navy aviation units on Friday

Posted at 12:52 PM, May 02, 2014
and last updated 2014-05-02 12:52:34-04

The Navy issued a “tactical pause” on Friday which grounded planes and squadrons (except those deployed or underway) for a brief while.

The move comes after a T-34C training aircraft from Corpus Christi crashed into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Texas on Thursday.

The idea behind the pause was to give squadron commanders time to examine reports about mishaps and see which ones apply to their squadrons, according to Cmdr. Kevin Stephens from U.S. Naval Air Forces.

The crash was the 10th major mishap for Navy aviation in fiscal year 2014.

Two of those crashes happened in Virginia Beach in January.

On January 8th, a MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter from HM-14 crashed 18 miles off the Virginia coast, killing two of the five crew.

On January 15th, a Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet from VFA-143 at Naval Air Station Oceana crashed off the coast of Virginia Beach. The pilot ejected and was rescued.