Two single-seat F/A-18 Hornets, based out of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, CA, experienced a mid-air collision today during a training mission off the coast of San Diego.
One of the pilots safely ejected from the aircraft, according to a service statement.
"Search and rescue assets are in route to recover the pilot that ejected," the statement reads. "The other pilot landed safely at Naval Air Station North Island, California."
Inside the Navy reported in October the Defense Department's inspector general had begun an audit of Marine Corps aviation squadron readiness.
The readiness deficit across Marine Corps aviation has been one of the service's most pressing challenges in recent years. During a July 6 House Armed Services readiness subcommittee hearing, Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, the head of Marine Corps aviation, said just 43 percent of the service's required flightline inventory of 1,040 aircraft were ready to fly. The number was actually an improvement from when Davis previously testified in April, when only one-third were ready to fly.
"So, yes, while I can tell you we are improving, I would characterize our current state of recovery as fragile," he said in July. "We're in a deep hole and have a ways to go to climb out."
Several Marine Corps aviators were killed in accidents over the past year, although Davis has declined to tie the mishaps to the service's low readiness rates. In early August, the three-star directed all Marine Aircraft Wing commanders to have their squadrons stop flying for one day to focus on re-evaluating best practices.
The aviation stand-down followed on the heels of an Aug. 2 incident in which an F/A-18C pilot had to eject from his jet during a training flight near Naval Air Station Fallon, NV, and a July 28 F/A-18 crash near Twentynine Palms, CA, that killed the Marine pilot.
Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller said in September he was "confident" aviation personnel are focused on readiness and safety following the August stand-down.
"It's hard to bring your A game everyday, but that's what we're asking Marines to do," he told ITN following a Sept. 15 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.