Second US warplane falls off aircraft carrier into Red Sea

WASHINGTON: A multi-million-dollar US warplane failed to land on the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and plummeted into the Red Sea, US media reported on Wednesday, the second jet lost from the ship in just over a week.

The two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet, worth around $67 million, went overboard after an unsuccessful attempt to slow it down as it landed, CNN, the Wall Street Journal and others reported.

A defence official told the US Naval Institute that the hook of the aircraft failed to catch the arresting wire on the aircraft carrier.

“The arrestment failed, causing the aircraft to go overboard,” the defence official said, adding “both aviators safely ejected and were rescued by a helicopter.” It is the second F/A-18 operating off the Truman to be lost in just over a week. Another jet fell off the same carrier on April 28 in an accident that injured one sailor, and also dragged a tractor that was towing the fighter plane into the sea.