US fighter jet rolls off aircraft carrier, sinks into ocean, Navy says

I wonder what the FITREP will say after that. Extended tour not exactly fun and mistakes happen then tbh.
 
Let's go see if these folks have a report,

An F/-18E Super Hornet assigned to the carrier air wing embarked aboard aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) was lost at sea during a towing incident in the hangar bay Monday, according to a Navy announcement.

The single-seat Super Hornet assigned to the “Knighthawks” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 136, “was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard,” reads the statement.
“Sailors towing the aircraft took immediate action to move clear of the aircraft before it fell overboard. An investigation is underway.”

No personnel were lost and one sailor sustained minor injuries, according to the service.

Truman was conducting an “evasive maneuver” during the incident, a U.S. defense official confirmed to USNI News on Monday. A second defense official told USNI News the Super Hornet was being loaded onto the aircraft elevator on Truman when the strike fighter slid over the edge.
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There was that also earlier:
The Truman carrier was involved in another incident earlier this year when it collided with a merchant ship near the Suez Canal. Its commanding officer was subsequently fired.
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Operational fatigue?
(Sourced from the ABC link at the top of this page)
 
TomcatViP said:
There was that also earlier:

Operational fatigue?
(Sourced from the ABC link at the top of this page)
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Unlikely.

Having a sudden 15deg List in the direction of the open elevator doors while the aircraft is moving that way anyways, I don't think there's a force on earth that could have prevented such an accident.
 
Surely it wouldn't be too onerous to have emergency inflatable floatation devices in Naval aircraft for exactly this sort of occurrence? At least the aircraft could be salvaged for parts then
 
scautomoton said:
Surely it wouldn't be too onerous to have emergency inflatable floatation devices in Naval aircraft for exactly this sort of occurrence? At least the aircraft could be salvaged for parts then
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You have to weigh the cost of making an aircraft potentially salveable from a very rare situation, vs the costs of maintenance and the potential for inadvertent, and dangerous, inflation at other times.
 
scautomoton said:
Surely it wouldn't be too onerous to have emergency inflatable floatation devices in Naval aircraft for exactly this sort of occurrence? At least the aircraft could be salvaged for parts then
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They can be salvaged from considerable depths with the USN's Flyaway Deep Ocean Salvage System or a similar system from elsewhere. The current record is an SH-60 from 5,814 metres, but a capability exists for at least 27 tonnes from 6,100 metres.
 
DWG said:
You have to weigh the cost of making an aircraft potentially salveable from a very rare situation, vs the costs of maintenance and the potential for inadvertent, and dangerous, inflation at other times.
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Appreciated, yet we're talking about a 15 tonne jet which would need a 3-4m diameter floatation device (when inflated), which instinctively feels like a small package when uninflated. Plus an inflation charge can't be any more dangerous or maintenance intensive than the rocket pack on an ejector seat?

Plus there's the cost of the salvage operation itself, the risk of confidential tech being recovered by hostile states (think the F35 saga a couple of years ago).

I guess if its one aircraft lost overboard every couple of years then perhaps its completely unnecessary. How many actually tend to be lost in landing errors or this kind of mishap annually?
 
scautomoton said:
Appreciated, yet we're talking about a 15 tonne jet which would need a 3-4m diameter floatation device (when inflated), which instinctively feels like a small package when uninflated.
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15 tonnes is going to need 15m3 of water displacement,. Helicopter flotation packs, often attached to the skids, usually appear roughly the size of a ASM such as Sea Skua. But you can't attach them externally to a fast jet, so where inside a Super Hornet are you going to find the space to include two ASM equivalents?
 
DWG said:
15 tonnes is going to need 15m3 of water displacement,. Helicopter flotation packs, often attached to the skids, usually appear roughly the size of a ASM such as Sea Skua. But you can't attach them externally to a fast jet, so where inside a Super Hornet are you going to find the space to include two ASM equivalents?
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Fair, having just googled it they are a tad larger than I expected.
 

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