A second US fighter jet has been lost in the Red Sea in just over a week after going overboard when landing on an American aircraft carrier.
The F/A-18 Super Hornet’s two pilots were forced to eject during Tuesday’s failed landing on the USS Harry S Truman carrier, defence officials said.
The pilots were later rescued by a helicopter and suffered minor injuries. No one on the flight deck was hurt.
It comes after a US sailor suffered minor injuries when an F-18 jet and its tow tractor fell overboard from the same carrier on 28 April.
The incident forced a crew member in the pilot seat of the jet and another in the tow tractor to jump away, the US Navy said.
The F-18 jets are worth around $60m (£45m) each.
A defence official said the latest incident happened when “the arrestment failed”.
This refers to the hook system used by aircraft when landing on carriers, which catches steel wire ropes on the flight deck.
It has not been revealed which part of the system failed.
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The Truman, which has been playing a role in the airstrike campaign by the US against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, was also involved in another incident in February when it collided with a merchant vessel near Port Said in Egypt.
In December, the missile cruiser USS Gettysburg mistakenly shot down an American F/A-18 jet over the Red Sea.
Both pilots in the aircraft ejected and were rescued – one of them suffered minor injuries.
