ATAC Hawker Hunter crashes off California coast, pilot rescued by Navy helicopter

A Hawker Hunter jet went down in the Pacific a few miles off the California coast on 22 September. The aircraft carried the civil registration N345AX and was flown under the radio callsign ATAC 34 by the contractor Airborne Tactical Advantage Company, according to The Aviationist.

Audio of the pilot's transmissions records a mayday call in which he states that thrust was lost from the aircraft's single Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet. The jet came down in the sea. A U.S. Navy MH-60 helicopter recovered the pilot, who survived the ditching. Authorities have asked vessels in the area to keep a lookout for floating debris and other hazards, and local news outlets reported that the wreckage had not been found.

The aircraft has a long civilian history. It spent years on the British airshow circuit under the registration G-PSST and the nickname Miss Demeanour, then was sold in 2017 to the Canadian company Lortie Aviation. That firm, through a subsidiary called Hunter Aviation, leases Hawker Hunter airframes to other operators, ATAC among them.

This is the second ATAC Hunter to be lost off the California coast within a year. A sister aircraft came down in a similar location in October 2025 after a loss of power, and in that case too the pilot was recovered. Aviation Safety Network records list at least nine prior incidents involving the type in ATAC's fleet, four of them total losses; two of those crashes were fatal.