A US Navy pilot narrowly avoided crashing into the sea by as little as 16 feet after a ‘catastrophic’ failure aboard his aircraft carrier

An F/A-18E Super Hornet attached to Strike Fighter Squadron 83 approaches an aircraft carrier for landing.

US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Maxwell Orlosky

A US Navy pilot skirted disaster, saving himself and his fighter jet from crashing into the sea.Documents obtained by BI reveal his quick reaction to a “catastrophic” failure on his carrier.The F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot narrowly avoided hitting the water by just 16 feet.

A US Navy pilot’s quick reaction saved himself and his aircraft from a crash in the Indian Ocean after a “catastrophic failure” occurred aboard his aircraft carrier during landing, documents show.

The Super Hornet pilot was barreling back onto the deck when he sensed something was drastically wrong. A wire had snapped, and his plane was rolling off the deck. His jet fell to as low as 16 feet above the water before he pulled up on maximum afterburner.

Documents obtained by Business Insider on the previously unreported November 2023 incident said that the pilot, a lieutenant whose name was redacted, showed tremendous skill that not only saved his own life but also his $60 million aircraft. The entire incident played out in just under 20 seconds, demanding quick thinking.

At the time of that near-miss, the naval aviator was flying a Boeing-made F/A-18E Super Hornet carrier-based fighter with Strike Fighter Squadron 83 and was embarked aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower on a Middle East combat deployment.

On November 27, the pilot was coming in for a routine landing when one of the arresting wires used to rapidly slow the planes down on the flight deck “suffered a catastrophic failure” that caused it to snap after the fighter jet hooked onto it.

An F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet attached to Strike Fighter Squadron 83 takes off from the flight deck aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Arabian Gulf in November 2023.

US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Mo Bourdi

The flight decks of Nimitz-class carriers are equipped with four arresting wires — flexible, steel cables tensioned by an engine — that stretch across the flight deck for the tail hook of an aircraft to catch upon landing. The wires are designed to bring aircraft to a stop in just a few seconds, given the limited runway space. They’re absolutely essential to keeping jets out of the ocean.

Before the wire failure, the arresting gear slowed the pilot’s plane down from a landing speed of 136 knots to 80 knots, according to one of the documents. It said that the pilot “executed procedures consistent with carrier landings by advancing his throttles to military power upon touchdown.”

The pilot immediately sensed something was wrong. After the aircraft reached its minimum speed, he immediately pushed the throttles to maximum afterburner to gain as much thrust as possible. The jet rolled off the end of the carrier’s angle deck at a dangerously low speed of 88 knots. A fighter jet normally clears the deck at around 150 knots.

The pilot’s Super Hornet dropped off the end, hitting a maximum sink rate of 738 feet per minute even while the afterburners were engaged. He reported seeing the altimeter, which measures altitude, at just 20 feet above the water, although maintenance data reveals its lowest altitude was between 16 and 32 feet above the surface.

The pilot adjusted his aircraft into an optimum flyaway position before pulling out and establishing a positive climb rate. He had just narrowly avoided crashing into the Indian Ocean.

An F/A-18E Super Hornet attached to Strike Fighter Squadron 83 lands on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea in April 2024.

US Navy photo

An award recommendation from his squadron commander obtained by BI said the aviator’s “sound execution of procedures, unwavering nerve, and superb airmanship undoubtedly saved his life and the aircraft,” adding that “his actions directly enabled the recovery of the aircraft the following day and its subsequent launch in support of Operation Inherent Resolve,” referring to the US military’s mission against ISIS.

The naval aviator was recommended for Air Medal (Single Mission) by his superiors for his actions, and the recommendation was approved.

Close calls like the one in November 2023 are not uncommon, and US naval aviators have unexpectedly found themselves close to the water in past incidents. Sixteen feet is particularly close, though.

The November 2023 incident occurred during the Eisenhower carrier strike group’s monthslong deployment to the Middle East, where it led the military’s response to the Iran-backed Houthi rebel attacks on shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

The Yemeni rebels had just started their campaign at the time. They have since launched over 140 missile and drone attacks on merchant vessels and targeted Navy warships more than 170 times.

The Ike is one of multiple US aircraft carriers that deployed to confront the Houthis over the past 15 months. During its time in the Middle East, the Ike strike group fired hundreds of munitions to intercept hostile missiles and drones and bomb the rebels in Yemen.