--- title: "Crew survives Navy Hawkeye crash in Virginia" description: "The crew was conducting a training flight at the time of the crash, the Navy said." date: "2020-08-31" modified: "2020-08-31" authors: - name: "David Roza" job_title: "YouTube Writer/Editor" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/david-roza/" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/navy-hawkeye-crash-norfolk/" categories: - "Aircraft" - "Around the World" - "Military Branches" - "Navy" - "News" - "Tech & Tactics" - "United States" tags: - "Northern Command" --- # Crew survives Navy Hawkeye crash in Virginia ![]() Two Navy pilots and two crew members bailed out safely from a E-2C Hawkeye Monday afternoon when it crashed in the vicinity of Wallops Island, Virginia, the Navy said in a press release. The crew, assigned to the Airborne Command & Control Squadron (VAW) 120 Fleet Replacement Squadron on board Naval Station Norfolk, was conducting a training flight at the time of the crash, the Navy said. The plane crashed at about 3:50 p.m., though initial reports indicate no structures or people on the ground were injured or damaged. The pilots and crew members bailed out through the aircraft's main cabin door using parachutes, the Navy said. The crew are required to strap on parachutes when they first get aboard the plane. The cause of the mishap is under investigation, the Navy said. It is the latest in a long series of military aviation crashes that took place this summer. Over the weekend, two Army special operations soldiers, Staff Sgt. Vincent P. Marketta and Sgt. Tyler M. Shelton, were killed when the Black Hawk helicopter they were flying in [crashed during a training mission]() over San Clemente Island, California. In June, a Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet crashed into the Philippine Sea. The two aviators aboard ejected and were rescued. **Related: [USS Theodore Roosevelt aviators eject safely at sea]()** Meanwhile, the Air Force suffered seven mishaps from May to July, two of which were fatal. [1st Lt. David Schmitz]() was killed when his F-16CM crashed during a June 30 training flight near Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina; and [1st Lt. Kenneth Allen]() died when his F-15C went down in the North Sea on June 15. Monday’s Hawkeye crash comes the same day the Naval Safety Center was scheduled to begin using a new online safety i[ncident reporting system](), which was meant to streamline the sharing of mishap information. The[ E-2 Hawkeye]() is the Navy’s all-weather, carrier-based tactical battle management airborne early warning, command and control aircraft. It features a 24-foot diameter radar rotodome which helps survey the battlefield and keeps units in communication with each other. ## Author David Roza writes scripts about military news for the Task & Purpose YouTube channel, and he also writes articles about military pay, benefits, health care, child care, culture, and other personnel topics on a freelance basis. Roza previously covered the Air Force and Space Force for Task & Purpose from 2019 to 2023 and for Air & Space Forces Magazine from 2023 to 2025. In the course of that reporting, he has set off a ‘Hollywood explosion’ with Air Force bomb techs, turned the (unarmed) keys of a nuclear missile bunker, hovered over the Nevada desert on an Air Force rescue helicopter, and got the best sleep of his life on the floor of a C-17 over the central Pacific. Share tips and story ideas with David at [david.roza@teamrecurrent.io]()