(WAVY) — A second fighter jet has been lost to the Red Sea after it went overboard from the Norfolk-based USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier Tuesday, two U.S. officials told NBC News.
It’s the second F/A-18F Super Hornet to be lost to sea in the past eight days, this time after it went off the deck as it was attempting a landing around 9:45 p.m. local time and crashed into the sea, according to the officials who told NBC News.
The two aviators on the F/A-18F Super Hornet Tuesday were able to eject after the failed landing after the plane did not catch the wire.
The incident is under investigation.
In the first instance, a F/A-18E fighter jet slipped off the hanger deck of the Truman April 28 and fell into the Red Sea as sailors were towing the aircraft into place in the hangar bay, the Associated Press reported. In that incident, the crew members in the pilot seat of the Super Hornet and on the small towing tractor both jumped out before the jet and the tug fell into the Red Sea.
In December, two U.S. Navy pilots were shot down over the Red Sea in an apparent “friendly fire” incident. They were recovered alive. The F/A-18 shot down had just flown off the deck of the Norfolk-based Truman.
The Truman left Naval Station Norfolk last September.