The incident Tuesday marks the latest mishap to mar the deployment of the Truman, which has been essential in the airstrike campaign by the United States against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Tuesday’s incident was the latest to see the Navy lose an F/A-18, which cost about $60 million (both pilots survived). In April, another F/A-18 fighter jet slipped off the hangar deck of the Truman and fell into the Red Sea. The crew members who were in the pilot seat of the Super Hornet and on the small towing tractor both jumped away.
In December, the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg mistakenly shot down an F/A-18 after ships earlier shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the rebels. Both aviators in that incident also survived.
And in February, the Truman collided with a merchant vessel near Port Said, Egypt.
I wonder at the nature of that failure. I’d immediately think this means “the cable broke” or “the hook broke”. But, it could also mean “the pilot missed the cable and failed to respond correctly”.