Another US fighter jet falls into the Red Sea

F/A-18 comes off USS Harry S Truman on landing after mechanism to stop it fails

A US F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet taking off from the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier on March 16, 2025. AFP

A second US fighter jet has tumbled from an aircraft carrier into the Red Sea, an official said on Wednesday, just over a week after another plane went overboard.

On Tuesday, an F/A-18F Super Hornet was landing on the flight deck of the USS Harry S Truman when the hook-and-wire arrest mechanism to slow it down failed, causing the aircraft to go into the sea.

“Both aviators safely ejected and were rescued by the search and rescue helicopter attached to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 11,” a defence official said in a statement. “The aviators were evaluated by medical personnel and assessed to have minor injuries. No flight deck personnel were injured.”

The incident comes after another Super Hornet – which cost about $70 million each – fell off the Truman on April 28 when the crew that was towing it in the hanger lost control of the plane.

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

Late last year, another F/A-18 operating off the Truman was lost after it was mistakenly shot down by the USS Gettysburg guided missile cruiser. Both crew 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.

In addition to the lost warplanes and damage, a US official said last week that seven MQ-9 Reaper drones – which cost around $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 seas around the Middle East.

US forces have been bombing Yemen's Houthi rebels since mid-March. But President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the Houthis had “capitulated” and the US would stop bombing them.