The Navy identified the pilot of a jet that collided with another and crashed in the Pacific Ocean as a 26-year-old who grew up in southern California.
Lt. Nathan Poloski, a 2009 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, was flying off the carrier USS Carl Vinson on Sept. 12 when his jet collided with another and crashed about 250 miles from Wake Island.
Though the other pilot was recovered, Poloski went missing and is now presumed dead.
He had been a member of Strike Fighter Squadron 94, based at Naval Air Station Lemoore, near Fresno, Calif., since April.
Poloski’s love of flying started young while growing up near a Navy airbase in southern California and crystallized when his best friend, a Navy pilot, was murdered, family members told the Los Angeles Times.
Navy officials identified him as the missing pilot late Sunday, and said the cause of the crash is still under investigation.
“Nathan was an outstanding person, naval officer and aviator,” Cmdr. Michael Langbehn, the commanding officer of Poloski’s squadron, said in a statement. “My personal thoughts and prayers are for his family, friends and shipmates as they endure this immeasurable loss.”
His sister, Jacqueline Clements, told the Times that Poloski had chosen flying over medicine, another potential career choice, after his best friend and fellow Navy pilot David Reis was killed in a New Year’s Day 2012 murder-suicide in Coronado, Calif., near San Diego.
The killing “made him open his eyes to have no regrets and do what he wanted to do,” she said.
