Pilot’s chilling audio heard as military jet crashes into Pacific off California coast: ‘Mayday, mayday’

A fighter jet fell out of the sky and disappeared into the Pacific off California on Tuesday night after its pilot suddenly lost engine power, triggering a frantic mayday call, an ejection and a military rescue.

The Hawker Hunter was cruising above 32,000 feet when things went sideways. Within minutes, the aircraft was plunging toward the ocean at more than 10,000 feet per minute, according to Noozhawk.

Then came the chilling radio call.

“Mayday, mayday, mayday, I have lost thrust in my engine,” the pilot said as an air traffic controller tried to get him pointed toward Paso Robles, the nearest airport.

The aircraft ultimately went down at about 6:49 p.m., roughly six miles northwest of Morro Bay. Its signal disappeared at 3,425 feet.

The pilot, flying under the call sign Snake4, ejected before the jet hit the water and was later plucked from the ocean by a Naval Air Station Lemoore UH-60 helicopter carrying a rescue swimmer.

He was flown to Community Hospital in downtown Fresno, where the helicopter arrived around 8:20 p.m.

John Rupp, ATAC’s director of global military sales, told FOX26 that the pilot was doing well and was undergoing tests at the hospital.

The downed jet, registration N345AX, belonged to Airborne Tactical Advantage Company, or ATAC, a private military contractor that supplies aircraft for training exercises involving the US Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.

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ATAC describes the Hawker Hunter as a versatile training aircraft used in air-to-air, air-to-surface and broader fleet exercises.

The aircraft had launched from Point Mugu Naval Air Station near Oxnard, according to Naval Base Ventura County Installation Public Affairs Officer Nichole Went.