Navy confirms deaths of aviators in Washington state

The U.S. Navy on Sunday confirmed that two fighter jet crewmembers who went missing in a crash last week in Washington State were deceased. The Navy described Lt. Cmdr. Lyndsay “Miley” Evans and Lt. Serena “Dug” Wileman as combat-decorated aviators who were were role models and trailblazers. They were assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 130, whose members are nicknamed Zappers. Their aircraft, an EA-18G Growler, crashed near Mount Rainier on Tuesday last week.

What caused this crash? The cause of the crash is still under investigation, the Navy said. It first reported the crash on Wednesday. At first, officials did not even know where the airplane had crashed. But later on Wednesday, authorities reported that they had found the wreckage. The Navy on Thursday confirmed the wreck was 6,000 feet up the side of Mount Rainier. On Friday officials said search and rescue personnel had arrived at the crash site and were investigating the scene, which had been covered by snow.

Dig deeper: Read Bekah McCallum’s review in WORLD Magazine of the documentary The Blue Angels.