For the second time in eight days, a fighter jet was lost after falling over the side of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and into the Red Sea on Tuesday, two U.S. officials told NBC News.
There were only minor injuries after the two-seater, F-18 Super Hornet fell off the aircraft carrier as it was landing around 9:45 p.m. local time Tuesday (early afternoon East Coast time), the officials said.
The two aviators aboard ejected after the failed landing, in which the aircraft failed to catch the wire, known as a “failed arrestment,” one of the officials said.
Just over a week ago, another fighter jet was lost from the USS Harry S. Truman.
A Super Hornet, along with the tow tractor that was pulling it, fell off the deck of the ship on April 28, the office of the Navy Chief of Information in Bahrain said in a statement.
Tuesday’s incident is under investigation.
One official said that based on initial reporting, the failed arrestment happened when the tail hook failed to hook the wire that slows down the aircraft. The aircraft continued to accelerate toward the bow of the ship and went into the water, the official said.
The fighter jet that fell after trying to land Tuesday was an F/A-18F, the officials said. The fighter jet that fell as it was being towed on April 28 was a $67 million F/A-18E, the Navy said.
The April 28 incident happened after the jet “was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft,” the Navy said in the statement about that mishap. An investigation is underway, it said.
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