E-2D Accident - 30 Mar 22
 

Initially incorrectly reported as a V-22 by NASA Wallops Island, VA and USCG to local news outlets and copied by multiple on-line papers.

Now confirmed by USN as an E-2D.

Crashed in the Atlantic - north of the Chincoteague Causeway.

USCG vessel found 2 crew on top of aircraft with broken legs - 3rd crew member recovered deceased.

From NAS Norfolk, VA.

Navy E-2's based out out of Norfolk Chambers Field frequently use the field at NASA Wallops Island for touch and goes. A regular sight in the pattern. Otherwise Wallops is pretty sleepy movement wise.

Circumstances of the mishap not clear. 2 page PDF is about WALLOPS being developed as an FCLP facility for the E-2D. "NORFOLK – The Navy & NASA have formalized an agreement for Norfolk-based planes to practice carrier landings at the Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. In coming weeks, the Navy will begin installing lighting at the airfield to simulate the deck configuration aboard an aircraft carrier. It also will construct concrete pads and install utilities at a workstation where Navy landing signal officers will grade the touch-and-go landing maneuvers...." 2013 Navy Readies Wallops Site For Landing Practice - Association of Naval Aviation in Virginia Beach, Virginia - Hampton Roads Squadron

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....c5104d24ed.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....7915a6c645.jpg

"...The E-2D was partially submerged near Wildcat Marsh, on the northern end of Chincoteague Island, just south of the Maryland border. Nearby Wallops Island is a testing facility for both the Navy & NASA...." https://news.usni.org/2022/03/31/one...es-in-virginia RW28 FCLP deck markings. Did not realise Google Earth could get so bad - investigated a better setup of it to show ONLY the FCLP deck marks are on the East/West Runway 10/28 as seen.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....8fd18c2099.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....88db87e1f2.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....33c9afbe24.png

In case this mishap was during or just after night FCLP then here is some E-2C info 3 page PDF with the pattern & a 'hawkeye haircut' JPG.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....3daf5bf86b.gif
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....eb74a2ba7c.jpg

Thanks Spaz, the "Hawkeye Haircut" picture sure is an attention getter!

Living near Fentress, the out-laying field (OLF) for NAS Oceana, I can attest that it gets quite busy and loud under certain weather conditions during Super Hornet workups, first daylight, then duskers, then night. Imagine using Wallops for the E-2's was a way to spread the movements and the noise from Fentress and Chambers Field. Chambers Field at Norfolk Naval Station is the home base for the E-2/C-2 squadrons, and you will occasionally see E-2' and C-2's do the carrier pattern there, but not the constant pounding of repeated circuits. Chambers is a much more urban and busy airspace, and totally unsuited for night work with the light pollution. I imagine the E-2/C-2 with their distinct sound, which is better with the 8 bladed props, but still loud would not be welcome with the continued noise complaints near Fentress. Yes the E-2s are a frequent site at Wallops but had not idea it was up tot the 21,000 circuits as per your linked article. The idea of a new OLF in more rural Virginia or North Carolina seems to have died down in recent years. Nobody wanted the noise in return for just a handful of local jobs.

Navy IDs Aviator Killed in E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Crash Near Wallops Island - USNI News (I guess with 2 survivors & salvageable aircraft a lot can be known about the accident).

Photo from a FB group:
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....f5fe65da35.jpg
RIP sir.

Port propeller feathered it appears? Starboard does not appear to be.

Salute to LT Hanlan and family.

With a lack of evident damage on #2 prop wonder if the ditching was sans all power?

OK, the AAIB (Armchair Accident Investigation Branch) has reached a conclusion - right engine fail, left engine shut down. Next.

Sorry to waste your time Adlib, but perhaps some of us on RUMOR forum might find something of interest, especially if a picture shows something interesting like propeller position, or props that have not turned into broom-straws upon impact with the water. Maybe it says something or maybe it does not- yes the report will have the details, but some might find it interesting in the meantime. Let us know when you file the FOIA report and get the redacted report a few years from now.

Your comprehension of the English language is sadly lacking, I posed a question, not a conclusion, you know, that "?" at the end of the sentence. Go back to school. Sorry Mods.

Sandie,

Was there any consideration to using the OLF at Atlantic, North Carolina.....it is an OLF for MCAS Cherry Point but not heavily used.

Osprey's and CH-53's use it a bit and also other units based near Oceana also use the Training Area adjacent to Atlantic.

Populated area,....Atlantic and Cedar Island area is not.

Thanks for the debrief megan. As it happens, I didn't read your post and my post wasn't a reply to yours, question mark or not. ¿Comprende?
Not wasting my time sandiego89. All those things are indeed interesting. My post was a deliberately facetious ripost to those who would categorise an accident with the sparsest of information (how am I doing megan?).

And I missed a bit - my sincerest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased and best wishes for the full and speed recovery of the injured.

I do not believe the OLF's at Atlantic or Bogue (or Oak Grove) are appropriate for E-2's or fast jets- the runways are too short, decrepit, and I believe they are really only used for rotary or VSTOL aircraft and land based exercises. Fentress has faced increased encroachment of housing developments causing light pollution degrading its utility for night approaches and increased noise complaints, The Navy examined several OLFS to replace or relieve Fentress, but concluded a new outlying field was best as all the current OLFs had issues. The current ones in North Carolina were deemed too far from Oceana and would require major upgrades or would generate some of the same problems at Fentress. Transit coordinators to and from the OLFS was also a concern- guess no one wanted to be underneath tens of thousands of Super Hornet transits..... go figure

What was needed was a new OLF close enough to Oceana to minimize transit time, but rural enough where noise complaints and light pollution were minimized. No one wanted it. The "No OLF" signs popped up all over rural farms in North Carolina and Virginia. Civic leaders in Virginia and Chesapeake and the Navy reached a tenuous agreement where new housing developments were scaled back, or downright rejected in certain noise and crash zones (when you buy a house in these zones you have to sign and acknowledgment that your are in a certain crash zone or noise zone) and the Navy started buying up certain properties to reduce encroachment. The Navy did hint it could move out (closing Oceana and moving back to BRAC'd bases like those in Florida was hinted) and that woke up the Civic leaders a bit. Think it has bought some time, but I imagine it will come to a head again.

You did well AdLib, you might have said who the comment was directed towards, sorry for the presumption though .