An F/A-18 combat plane left the side of an aircraft carrier and sank to the bottom of the Red Sea, the Navy announced Monday.
There was a crew member aboard the plane and a second member of the crew inside the tractor when the incident occurred.
Both staff were able to jump on time with only one person suffering a minor injury, according to officials.
A Super Hornet F/A-18 assigned to the “Gunslingers” of the Strike 105 Combat Squadron is launched from the flight cover of the Nimitz class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman
Ricardo Reyes/US Navy, files
In the extraordinary setback attributed to human error, the $ 70 million plane was being taken from the Bay of the USS Harry S. Truman perha when the crew lost control. Both the jet and the towing tractor went overboard.
A HORNET F/A-18 is launched from the flight cover of the Nimitz Uss Harry S. Truman class aircraft carrier.
Ricardo Reyes/US Navy, files
“The F/A-18E was actively under the trailer in the Hangar Bay when the Move team lost control of the plane. The plane and the towing tractor were lost byboard,” the Navy wrote in a statement.
“The sailors who towed the plane took immediate measures to get away from the aircraft before falling down the board. An investigation is being carried out,” the service added.
The USS Harry S. Truman has been operating in the Red Sea since last September, when it was deployed to help protect commercial ships against almost constant attacks of hutis rebels in Yemen.
The authorities said that the recent Houthi attacks aimed at the ship had nothing to do with the plane that erroneously left the ship.
Three Hornets F/A-18 fly in formation on Nimitz Uss Harry S. Truman nuclear class aircraft carriers.
Petty Officer 1st Class Jay Pugh/Us Navy, Archives
The Truman carrier was involved in another incident earlier this year when he crashed with a merchant ship near the Suez Canal. His command officer was later fired.
The carrier was scheduled to return home last month, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth extended his deployment while ordering another carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, to the region to reinforce military power.
