USN Saw the Hainan Island EP-3

[taxi1]

Yes and no, landing it was the best option and from what they knew at the time making it to Taiwan or the Philippines would have been dicey. Things could have been done better before they landed but nothing on that plane was worth anyone's life.



Most, if not all, of the crew likely would have died if that had happened. Hundreds of miles from any friendly (or competent) SAR and spread out miles from each other, those that made it out, it would have been a disaster.

Ditching was the other option and the preferred one over bailing out in the P-3, but only one P-3 ditched without fatalities and no one had ever ditched an EP-3. It was an interesting topic of discussion in the squadron when the question came up among aircrew even before the incident, with most pilots not wanting to risk it with the extra weight and not knowing what the antenna on the belly would do (just come off, rip up the bottom?). And that still left you hundreds of miles from the closest friendly and competent SAR.

BTW, similar scenarios were commonly run through during qualification boards and the command consensus was the crew's safety and survival were paramount. That almost certainly played a significant part in the crew's decision-making.

I'd have thought that patch of ocean would have tons of surface shipping down there, if not SAR specifically.

Are you saying they'd have died in the bailout, or waiting for rescue? Winter conditions at the time?

The E-2 has jumped out of successfully a bunch of times.

 

[Flash]

I'd have thought that patch of ocean would have tons of surface shipping down there, if not SAR specifically.

In the particular patch they were in, not as much and even then I'm not sure they would have been able to let the surface ships know they were out there and where.

Are you saying they'd have died in the bailout, or waiting for rescue? Winter conditions at the time?

It would likely take some time for all the crew to get out and in that time they would have been spread over a significant amount of area, so instead of one rescue it likely would have been a dozen or more separate ones over a relatively wide area. The autopilot on EP-3's also hardly ever worked well, if at all, and with the long waddle back to the hatch from the cockpit the pilots may not have been able to make it out (which happened to at least one E-2 crew).

The E-2 has jumped out of successfully a bunch of times.

The difference is they usually bail out near home, either the carrier or home field, with the attendant SAR and not 700 or more miles away. For example, the E-2 bailout near Wallops had an P-8 on a test flight out of PAX on station in minutes coordinating the SAR effort.