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Fighter jet landing on USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier goes overboard, forcing pilots to eject

Published: 07 May. 2025, 19:10

A U.S. F/A-18 Super Hornet attack fighter jet takes off from the U.S. Navy's Nimitz-class USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier at sea on March 16. Strikes hit Yemen's rebel-held capital of Sanaa on March 15, the rebels' Al-Masirah TV said after U.S. President Donald Trump announced military action. [AFP/YONHAP]

An F/A-18 fighter jet landing on the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the Red Sea went overboard, forcing its two pilots to eject, a defense official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

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.

On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump and Oman's foreign minister both said a cease-fire had been reached with the Houthis, who would no longer target ships in the Red Sea corridor — something not immediately acknowledged by the rebels.

Meanwhile, the Houthis continue to assess the damage after daytime Israeli airstrikes targeted Yemen's rebel-held capital of Sanaa.

The F/A-18 Super Hornet landed on the Truman after a flight, but “the arrestment failed,” the official said on condition of anonymity as they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the incident, which is now under investigation.

“Arrestment” refers to the hook system used by aircraft landing on carriers, which catches steel wire ropes on the flight deck. It remains unclear what part of the system failed.

The two pilots on board were later rescued by a helicopter and suffered minor injuries in the incident, the official added. No one on the flight deck was hurt.

CNN first reported on the incident.

Tuesday's incident was the latest in which the Navy lost an F/A-18, which cost about $60 million. 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 in Egypt.

The deployment of the Truman, based out of Norfolk, Virginia, has been extended multiple times amid the Houthi airstrike campaign. It had been joined recently by the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier operating out of the Arabian Sea.

The Houthis had been waging persistent missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group’s leadership has described as an effort to end the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

From November 2023 until January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, through which $1 trillion of goods typically move each year.

The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed cease-fire until the United States launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March.

AP