6 Missing as 2 Navy Planes Collide on Carrier

NORFOLK, Va. — A Navy plane conducting night landing exercises collided with another plane Sunday on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Enterprise. Both air crews ejected, and the Navy was searching the Atlantic for the six missing fliers.

The collision set off a small fire on the deck, but it was quickly contained, said Capt. Joe Gradisher, a Navy spokesman for the Atlantic Fleet air force.

The two planes involved were an EA-6B Prowler and an S-3 Viking. The Prowler had a crew of four, and the Viking had a crew of two, Gradisher said.

“From all indications, they collided somehow or other on deck,” said Mike Maus, another Navy spokesman. “We don’t know exactly how.” He said all six crew members were missing.

The Prowler was returning to the Enterprise for a night landing and the Viking was on the flight deck when the planes collided, Gradisher said.

The Prowler, assigned to Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 130 at Whidbey Island, Wash., is a radar-jamming aircraft. The Viking, assigned to Sea Control Squadron 22 in Jacksonville, Fla, is an anti-submarine warfare aircraft.

The collision happened at 7:20 p.m. as the aircraft carrier sailed about 120 miles off the Virginia coast. The Enterprise left its home port here Friday for a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf.