Blown Away
F/A-18E Super Hornet
A little Under-weigh Replenishment (UNREP) excitement on board USS Harry S. Truman recently. No one wants excitement during UNREP. The results- one Sailor slightly injured, but it cost one F/A-18.
Several of our usual suspects send.
F/A-18 Super Hornet assigned to USS Harry S. Truman blown overboard due to unexpected heavy weather
NAPLES, Italy — On July 8, 2022, an F/A-18 Super Hornet assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 1, embarked aboard USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), blew overboard due to unexpected heavy weather in the Mediterranean Sea. The carrier was conducting a replenishment-at-sea, which was safely terminated through established procedures.
All personnel aboard the ship are accounted for.
One Sailor received minor injuries while conducting operations during the unexpected heavy weather. The Sailor is in stable condition and expected to make a full recovery.
USS Harry S. Truman and embarked aircraft remain full mission capable.
Details and the cause of the incident are under investigation.
By “established procedures” they mean an emergency breakaway- just another day at the office. Thanks, gentlemen.
Category: Blue Skies, Guest Link, Navy, Usual Suspects
And the Ruski/ChiCom subs are racing to the area to recover what they can of our secrets?
Racket straps and chain buckles are hard, eh (beat) Navy?
Uhh, is there a reason this aircraft wasn’t tied down in the face of the heavy weather winds? As private pilots, we were required to tie down the aircraft we rented even on calm days. It was basic safety.
The aircraft may have been hooked up to a tow tractor and was being moved on the flight deck during “respot” operations while the UNREP was taking place.
There’s a lot of continuous, unrelated activity that takes place up on the flight deck while replenishment-at-sea operations are going on, including the movement of aircraft.
Well, just DAAAAYYYUUUM! One less Aerial Artillery Platform available to fly into the danger zone. “Unexpected bad weather…”?!? DaHell!?! What, were they expecting that deck was going to be a sunny beach volley ball court? Was it a rogue maverick wave or was the deck covered in ice, man? Somebodys gots some ‘splainin’ to do to keep the Air Boss from cooking their goose for losing one of his toys. He may lose that lovin’ feelin’. Where will the buck stop?
Just get ready to be blown away again come the December Gridiron competition when (GO) Army shows up.
Swim lane, in. Stay! Good doggie.
You don’t suppose they may have been moving the aircraft? Happens a lot when the flight deck is fouled and unusable.
Like during UNREP.
That would be my guess. Anytime an aircraft is stopped 8 to 10 tie down chains go on. And more for heavy weather. I want to see the final report on this one.
Don’t stop him, he’s rolling.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi7q5zZfSU8
My swim lane is being occupied by an orphaned FA 18. *grin* Like others, I want to hear “the rest of the story”. I still say (a) someone gots some ‘splainin’ to do and (b) Navy will get blown away AGAIN come December.
Um, Kid Squid, ol” Poe’s just another ol’ mud-sluggin’ doggie like KoB and Roh, but he’s willin’ to bet even the most junior infantry NCO woulda kept a strong safety tether of some kind on a $50 mil piece of equipment before movin’ it around in such hazardous conditions.
Matter of fact, the way Squid Air has been losin’ their expensive toys lately, they might wanna consider flyin’ ’em with tethers… 😜
Report of Survey is going to be awesome.
Betcha the whole chain of command from flight deck to bridge has some tightly puckered butts right now… 😳
Wonder if the Property Book Officer will claim that every single item he was short somehow ended up in the cockpit and is fathomed deep now? I’ve heard rumors of that happening at Bragg when a heavy drop clobbered in…esp if it landed in a swamp and burned. I might have heard a Survey Officer state that he could see why the chute streamered but he didn’t see how it ever got in the air.
No problem, if Bees can be Fish, Hornets can be Subs…
Hornet sinking like a dib no problem…it’s resurfacing that’s difficult.
“sub”…damn phone keyboard
Well it’s plane to see that somrthing went wrong and will wait for results of the investigation
Will the investigation be washed away? Who is the most junior man/woman on board? Somehow, this will be his/her fault.
Air boss will be relieved of command as a minimum. Something like that just can’t go unpunished.
Not necessarily. This may have actually been an unpreventable mishap for any number of reasons beyond the crew’s control.
FYI: the Air Boss up in Pri-Fly is in charge of air and flight deck operations aboard the carrier, but he can’t be “relieved of command”, because he doesn’t “command” anything.
As long as the Air Boss, the Mini, the Handler, and V-1 Division flight deck personnel were following proper procedures during this incident, this could be nothing more than yet another example of how unforeseen “shit happens” from time to time in Naval Aviation during aircraft carrier operations out at sea.
There are many reasons why aircraft carrier flight decks are known as some of the most dangerous places to work in the world. This incident is another example of why that is true.
And here I always thought it stood for “underway replenishment”, but I guess if you’re floating high you also under “weigh”… LMAO!!!