MH-60S emergency – An MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter carrying four crew members made an emergency water landing in the Arabian Sea early Wednesday. Three crew members were rescued and are in stable condition aboard the USS George H.W. Bush, while a search continues for the fourth. T
At about 3:30 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter crew in the Arabian Sea ended up in water instead of air—an emergency water landing that immediately turned the mission into rescue.
By late morning local time, three of the four crew members had been recovered and were in stable condition aboard the USS George H.W. Bush. The fourth and final crew member was still missing, and U.S. Navy assets in the region were searching for the aircrewman.
U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said there is no indication the helicopter was shot down by hostile action. The helicopter is assigned to the USS George H.W. Bush, one of two aircraft carriers remaining in the region.
The USS George H.W. Bush has been in the Middle East since late April, part of a broader U.S. military presence even as the U.S. rescinded its blockade of vessels traveling into and out of the Strait of Hormuz.
The incident adds another chapter to a volatile stretch for U.S. aircraft operations in the region. As of mid-May, the U.S. reported losing 42 fixed-wing or rotor aircraft in Operation Epic Fury, according to the last update provided to Congress. That figure did not include an Apache helicopter shot down by an Iranian drone in early June. The two crew members on that Apache were able to be rescued, and that incident later precipitated U.S. self-defense strikes against Iran.
In the current emergency, the sequence of events is stark: three were recovered and their condition was described as stable aboard the carrier, while the search for the fourth crew member continued.
For now, the Navy is focused on finding that missing aircrewman as the region’s operations carry on around an aircraft carrier that has been there since late April—and as questions linger about what caused Wednesday’s emergency landing in the first place.
MH-60S Sea Hawk Arabian Sea emergency water landing USS George H.W. Bush Naval Forces Central Command crew member missing MH-60S helicopter Operation Epic Fury