Second plane in 10 days falls off US aircraft carrier

WASHINGTON - A US warplane plummeted into the Red Sea when trying to land on the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, a defence official said on May 7, the second jet lost from the ship in just over a week.

The F/A-18F Super Hornet – which cost about US$67 million (S$86 million) – went overboard on May 6 due to a failure in the procedure for aircraft to catch a wire with a hook to help them stop after landing.

“The arrestment failed, causing the aircraft to go overboard,” the defence official said.

“Both aviators safely ejected and were rescued,” the official said, adding that they had minor injuries.

It is the second F/A-18 operating off the Truman to be lost in recent days.

On April 28, a similar F/A-18E

fell off the carrier

when the crew that was towing it in the hanger lost control of the plane.

One sailor sustained a minor injury in that incident, which also saw a tow tractor lost overboard.

Late in 2024, another F/A-18 operating off the Truman was lost after it was mistakenly shot down by the USS Gettysburg guided missile cruiser. Both pilots survived that incident.

And in February, the Truman itself suffered damage when it collided with a merchant vessel in the Mediterranean Sea near Egypt’s Port Said.

Yemen ceasefire

In addition to the lost warplanes and damage, a US official said last week that seven MQ-9 Reaper drones – which cost around US$30 million apiece – had been lost in the Yemen area since March 15.

The Truman is one of two US aircraft carriers operating in the Middle East, where US forces have been hammering Yemen’s Houthi rebels with strikes since mid-March.

The Iran-backed Houthis began attacking merchant vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in late 2023, claiming solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, which has been devastated by the Israeli military following a shock Hamas attack in October of that year.

The United States started targeting the Houthis in 2024 under Joe Biden, and President Donald Trump’s administration on March 15 launched a new wave of near-daily strikes.

On May 6, Mr Trump said that

the Houthis had agreed to stop their attacks

and that Washington would in turn halt strikes on the rebels, which have left 300 people dead, according to an AFP tally of Houthi figures.

“They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore,” the US president said, before mediator Oman said the two sides had agreed a ceasefire. AFP