Oops..
 

An F/-18E Super Hornet assigned to the carrier air wing embarked aboard aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) was lost at sea during a towing incident in the hangar bay Monday, according to a Navy announcement.

The single-seat Super Hornet assigned to the “Knight Hawks” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 136, “was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard,” reads the statement.
“Sailors towing the aircraft took immediate action to move clear of the aircraft before it fell overboard. An investigation is underway.”

No personnel were lost and one sailor sustained minor injuries, according to the service.

Truman was conducting an “evasive maneuver” during the incident, a U.S. defense official confirmed to USNI News on Monday. A second defense official told USNI News the Super Hornet was being loaded onto the aircraft elevator on Truman when the strike fighter slid over the edge.

U.S. ships in the Red Sea are daily targets of Houthi one-way attack drones and cruise and ballistic missiles since U.S. strikes against targets in Yemen resumed on March 15

Could be excusable given that an "evasive maneuver" in that AOR might have been due to actual combat... ship safety ($13B) has higher priority than hardware safety on the flight/hangar deck.

Also, one Sailor was injured.
Worth more than the plane.

Not sure how this happened, we always had a brake rider in the cockpit, a chalk walker near each main, a tug driver and director and if I remember right permission was required from the bridge before moving aircraft? Maybe things have changed, glad nobody was killed or seriously hurt.

If it actually was an unplanned severe evasive maneuver for the safety of the ship it was certainly excusable. If it was planned (ie. An exercise) but not coordinated with those who might be moving ordnance, aircraft or otherwise involved in procedures that might be affected by an extreme turn, not so much.

In normal ops the ship's course, speed, maneuvers are thoroughly coordinated with the air wing... that's what the ship exists for, and that's why the ship CO is ALWAYS a naval aviator.

Rumor is that the maneuver was induced by enemy action.

Hopefully minor, and agree if ditching the plane saved other or more serious injuries it was worth it.

In extremis, CVN's can maneuver very severely and heel over pretty hard and pretty far. They have vastly more propulsive capability than any other ships in that size range.

Elsewhere, there were similar stories of planes sliding overboard during maneuvers of the ship. This isn’t new and has there been an authoritative report as to why the turn? A friend was on a carrier in the Atlantic off Norway during a storm. An A-7 chained down was swept was away be wave over the bow.

Not new, nature of the carrier aviation beast.

Also Truman has been on deployment for quite a while... ships get a fresh coat of non-skid prior to leaving but it definitely wears off with use, so there's a good chance the brakes were locked but the tires were sliding on bare steel coated with a nice sheen of various mx fluids, all of which are slippery.

My guess is that the injury was the brake rider frantically bailing out before the jet went over the edge.

Worth pointing out that, unlike airplanes, ships bank towards the outside of the turn... so deck slope and centrifugal force both working against you.

Good Lord! That is a LOT of metal and water being shoved around.
Sheesh!

Carrier ops - not for the faint of heart…
 

An F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) went overboard on Tuesday during an attempted landing on the aircraft carrier, a defense official confirmed to USNI News.

The two-seat Super Hornet, assigned to the “Red Rippers” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 11, came in for a night landing around 9 p.m. local time when the hook of the aircraft failed to catch the arresting wire on the aircraft carrier.

“The arrestment failed, causing the aircraft to go overboard. Both aviators safely ejected and were rescued by a helicopter assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 11,” the defense official said. “The aviators were evaluated by medical personnel and assessed to have minor injuries. No flight deck personnel were injured.”

CNN first reported the aircraft loss late Tuesday.

It’s unclear if the arresting wire that stops the aircraft during the carrier landing failed or if the hook on the fighter didn’t catch the wire. It’s also unclear whether the incident fouled the flight deck, interrupting flight operations. As of Tuesday evening, Truman was fully operational, the defense official said.

Truman and the embarked Carrier Air Wing One have been deployed from Norfolk since Sept. 23 and were recently extended by a week. The failed landing follows last week’s loss of a single-seat Super Hornet, assigned to the “Knighthawks” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 136, that fell off an aircraft elevator into the sea following an evasive maneuver by Truman from a suspected Houthi attack, USNI News reported last week.

In December, the Red Rippers lost another another Super Hornetin during a friendly fire incident involving a missile from USS Gettysburg (CG-64).

Since March 15, Carrier Air Wing 1, flying from Truman, has conducted ongoing strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen as part of Operation Rough Rider. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would stop strikes against the Houthis, USNI News reported.

The carrier has been operating in the Red Sea since late February after emergency repairs following a collision with a merchant vessel. The collision resulted in the removal of Truman’s then-commander.

There's a little more to the story than "didn't catch the hook and went off the end".

They go to full power at touchdown for a couple reasons...

If they miss the wire, or it comes out of the hook, they have the thrust to go around.

It holds tension on the wire so stays in the hook until the plane is fully stopped.

For this to happen there was some other malfunction... obvious possibilities are broken wire or came out of burner too early and the wire popped out before they were fully stopped. There have ben historical cases where the weight was set wrong on the arresting gear, that could break the cable (or the maybe hook). Also possible they just missed the wire and had an engine malfunction, FOD, etc.

Truman is having a rough deployment, that's for sure... those guys are going to be glad to get home. CAG's job might be on the line now too... shootdown had nothing to do with him, but it's going to come down to the details as to how they adjudicate the hangar deck and landing accidents.