US pilot ejects from jet near carrier headed for Korean peninsula
A pilot from the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier safely ejected from a fighter jet, according to a statement from the Commander of the U. S. Seventh Fleet.
The pilot was quickly recovered by a helicopter and is being assessed by the medical team on board the carrier. There are no injuries at this time, the statement said.
The pilot ejected from his F/A-18E Super Hornet as it was on its final approach to land on the USS Carl Vinson. The Navy said the plane had been conducting «routine flight operations during a transit in the Celebes Sea.» The body of water is north of Indonesia and south of the Philippines .
The statement did not detail what caused the pilot to eject or when the ejection occurred.
The USS Carl Vinson recently gained international attention for its location, after President Trump recently said that the U. S. was sending an «armada» toward North Korea.
The U. S. Pacific Command had issued a statement that Admiral Harry Harris had «directed the Carl Vinson Strike Group to sail north and report on station in the Western Pacific Ocean after departing Singapore April 8.»
The statement said that the Vinson would head north «rather than executing previously planned port visits to Australia.
