U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18D Crashes Close to Rimrock Lake, Washington. Pilot Ejects Safely

An F/A-18D Legacy Hornet belonging to VMFA-323 crashed whereas flying the VR-1355 low-level route in Washington State, with the pilot’s ejection caught on digicam.

On Jun. 13, 2026, at roughly 12.00 PDT an F/A-18D Hornet plane assigned to Marine Plane Group 11, third Marine Plane Wing, crashed roughly 55 miles southeast of Seattle, whereas conducting a routine coaching mission 

The pilot ejected safely and was recovered by the native sheriff’s division.

“The reason for the mishap is at present below investigation,” says an official third Marine Plane Wing press launch. “To protect the integrity of the investigation, no further particulars can be found right now. Mishap investigations can take a number of months to finish, relying on varied elements.”

Curiously, clips of the one pilot ejecting from the two-seat Legacy Hornet have virtually instantly began circulating on-line, exhibiting additionally the explosion following the affect of the jet with led to the ignition of the Pine Tree Hearth, which has grown to 2 acres, based on the Nationwide Interagency Hearth Heart. 

Video from Tic Toc of the F-18 crash in WA from VFMA-323. Rumor is the pilot ejected safely. Praying he’s unhurt pic.twitter.com/hAmRftwdpc

— Flygirlpainter 🇺🇸🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸 (@ShayneB52) June 14, 2026

US Navy F/A-18 Tremendous Hornet crashes throughout coaching flight in Washington state.

The pilot managed to eject safely earlier than affect. There aren’t any stories of accidents on the bottom.

The reason for the crash is below investigation. pic.twitter.com/4guhfPCYYf

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 14, 2026

The mishap happened alongside the Visible Route 1355, one of many low degree routes working by way of nationwide parks within the Cascade Mountains.

A US Navy F/A-18 crashed close to Rimrock Lake, pilot ejected and walked out with medics based on stories. That is alongside the well-known VR-1355 low degree route in Washington State.

🎥509Media pic.twitter.com/UhKZyUCRF9

— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) June 14, 2026

Colloquially known as the “million greenback journey” for each the scenic views and the enjoyable and “aggressive” flying that may be performed by way of the valleys, VR-1355 is among the hottest low degree routes among the many Growler squadrons primarily based at NASWI.

An EA-18G Growler Digital Assault plane belonging to the Digital Assault Squadron 130 (VAQ-130) “Zappers” carrying two crew members crashed roughly in the identical space, close to Mount Rainier, little lower than two years in the past, on October 15, 2024. The plane wreckage was positioned within the mountainous area by search groups on Wednesday, October 16. The destiny of the 2 naval aviators aboard the Growler on the time of the crash remained unknown till Oct. 21, 2024, when the U.S. Navy recognized them as Lt. Cmdr. Lyndsay “Miley” Evans and Lt. Serena “Dug” Wileman.

Whereas the U.S. Marine Corps didn’t present any particulars in regards to the precise sort or unit of the Legacy Hornet that crashed on Jun. 13, the plane was virtually instantly recognized as BuNo 165412, tail code WS-415, from VMFA-323 “Dying Rattlers,” primarily based at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar in California, flying as SNAKE 21. The identification was made doable because of images of the plane departing King County Worldwide Airport – Boeing Area the place the “Dying Rattlers” Legacy Hornets from MCAS Miramar had deployed.

A Puget Sound photographer seen that solely three of the 4 plane returned to the departure airfield, with the lacking jet being airframe 165412.

With regard to the fighter misplaced in a crash off Rimrock Lake within the Cascades, it’s this Legacy Hornet airframe visiting from MCAS Miramar.

‘SNAKE21’ was 165412, tail WS-415 from VMFA-323 ‘Dying Rattlers’.

— Evergreen Intel (@vcdgf555) June 13, 2026