What Really Happened
A U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler jet crashed during a training flight on October 15, 2024, near Mount Rainier in Washington state. The two aviators aboard—both from California—were later identified as:
- Lt. Cmdr. Lyndsay P. Evans, a Naval Flight Officer from Palmdale, California, noted for participating in the first-ever all-female flyover at Super Bowl LVII in February 2023. Â
- Lt. Serena N. Wileman, a Naval Aviator commissioned in 2018, assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron 130 (“Zappers”) at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. Â
The wreckage was located the next day in a remote, steep and heavily wooded area at about 6,000 feet elevation. Search-and-rescue operations were quickly converted to recovery efforts.
From The Associated Press:
“The Navy identified on Monday the two crew members… as two 31-year-old aviators from California” — Lt. Cmdr. Evans and Lt. Wileman, who were part of the “Zappers.”
What “RIP Two aviators…” Refers To
Social media posts, such as the one you referenced (“RIP 🙏 Two aviators from California lost in a fatal fighter jet accident”), likely refer to this same event. However, many of those are unverified summaries, and in some cases, they may even prompt readers to “check the first comment” for details—typical behavior in viral posts with limited context.
What’s important here is that the official, credible news sources confirm the event occurred in October 2024, not “recently” in August 2025.
