For the second time a US fighter jet has fallen off the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and plummeted into the Red Sea.
The two-seater F/A-18F Super Hornet, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 11, went off the deck as it was landing around 9:45 p.m. local time and crashed into the sea, sources told NBC News.
The two aviators aboard suffered minor injuries after ejecting from the failed landing, in which the aircraft failed to catch the wire, known as a ‘failed arrestment.’
Both members of the crew ejected before the jet plunged into the water and were recovered by a rescue helicopter.
Based on initial reports, the tail hook appeared to fail to hook the wire that slows down the aircraft, which continued to accelerate toward the bow and went into the water, sources told the news outlet.
On April 28, the jet slipped off the hanger deck of an aircraft carrier deployed to the Middle East, as sailors were towing the aircraft into place in the hangar bay.
