More than four hours after a Navy F/A-18C Hornet crashed in a remote mountainous region in northern Nevada, officials said they had not yet reached the scene and had not established the status of the pilot.

The single-seat jet went down during a training flight at 3 p.m. Pacific time about 70 miles east of Naval Air Station Fallon, where the plane is based.

Fallon is about 60 miles east of Reno. Rugged terrain and the remote location have made it difficult for helicopters and ground crews to reach the crash site, Navy spokeswoman Lt. Reagan Lauritzen told the Los Angeles Times.

The cause of the crash remains unknown, the Navy said.


McDonnell Douglas manufactured the C-variant of the jet from 1987 until 1999. It can carry both air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles.

In 2008, two Navy pilots collided over the Nevada desert, killing the pilot of an F/A-18C. In 2006, a F/A-18C Hornet crashed into a vacant area of the Imperial Valley in California, killing the pilot.

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