I was on an aircraft carrier in the mid 90’s and we lost three aircraft on a Westpac. We lost an F14 and an E-2 Hawkeye when the F14 bounced off it’s wire on recovery and hit the Hawk eye that was parked. The other was kind of scary because it was an F18 that was launched and the pilot ejected because the plane didn’t have power. Once he ejected, the plane flew off like a multi-million dollar bottle rocket.
The funniest part about this incident is how it happened. The Navy in the article claimed that the carrier made a sudden and hard turn to avoid incoming Houthi drone/missile strikes, causing the aircraft that was being towed on the flight deck to slide off the side of the ship. So they have now lost multiple multimillion dollar aircraft to a military force that has no airforce.
I was on an aircraft carrier in the mid 90’s and we lost three aircraft on a Westpac. We lost an F14 and an E-2 Hawkeye when the F14 bounced off it’s wire on recovery and hit the Hawk eye that was parked. The other was kind of scary because it was an F18 that was launched and the pilot ejected because the plane didn’t have power. Once he ejected, the plane flew off like a multi-million dollar bottle rocket.
The funniest part about this incident is how it happened. The Navy in the article claimed that the carrier made a sudden and hard turn to avoid incoming Houthi drone/missile strikes, causing the aircraft that was being towed on the flight deck to slide off the side of the ship. So they have now lost multiple multimillion dollar aircraft to a military force that has no airforce.