Unqualified pilot, inadequate training and a nonstandard maneuver: Inside the investigation to the 2018 midair refueling collision that killed six Marines

An inexperienced pilot unqualified for night air-to-air refueling, and a weapons systems officer later found to have had Ambien and an over-the-counter cold medicine in his system, slammed their F/A-18 into the back of a KC-130 during an air refueling training exercise off the coast of Japan.