A Solar Flare on 10 September 2014 was Associated with Two F/A-18C Hornets Crashing in the Western Pacific Ocean
Jyh- Woei Lin *
Department of Earth Science, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City, Taiwan
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Two F/A-18 Hornets from Carrier Air Wing 17 crashed at 5:40 (UT) while attempting to board the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson 466 km west of Wake Island on 12 September 2014. A large geomagnetic storm caused by a solar flare occurred at 17:46 (UT) on 10 September 2014. It is doubtful that this large geomagnetic storm may be a potential reason for the crash. It is difficult to make this case with 100% certainty, and it may have been remotely possible that the storm was the cause.
Keywords: F/A-18 Hornets, USS carl vinson, crash, wake Island, geomagnetic storm, X-class solar flare