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| Broken wire sends jet into ocean, injuring 12 |
| 2003-09-12 |
| An arresting wire broke during a fighter jet landing on the George Washington on Thursday afternoon, injuring about a dozen crew members, including five who had to be airlifted off the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier. One crew member was seriously injured, according to Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, spokeswoman for the Naval Air Force Atlantic. Another spokesman for the Navy said none of the injuries was life-threatening, although some of the injured were taken to the Level I trauma unit at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. The F/A-18 Hornet caught the flight deck’s No. 4 landing wire, but the jet fell into the Atlantic Ocean after the 4-inch-thick cable ``parted,’’ Robertson said. The pilot ejected from the single-seat strike fighter and was rescued. Robertson said she did not have complete information on the types of injuries or the conditions of the injured sailors. The snapping of the wire may have directly caused or led to some of the injuries, she said. The five most seriously injured were sent initially to Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, but some were rerouted to local hospitals based on their medical needs, Robertson said. Families of the injured were notified throughout the evening. |
| Posted by:Yosemite Sam |
| #8 They looked like an aviation version of a great white shark. I have never heard of an arresting wire failure. I know that they are disposed of over the side after a certin number of traps (I thought the number of was three.) The Navy used to use a synthetic line for deck handling that was equally scarey. We had to see a film every year about the dangers of Synthetic Line Snapback. The line would snap under pressure and explode in the opposite direction of the tension. The flick showed where the kill zone of the line was. At the end of the flick the narrator was fianlly shown below the waist and of course being a victim of snapback had prosthetic legs. Kind of chilling and made you very careful on deck when lines were being handled. The Navy has since moved to a different synthetic cord that has no snapback. When it parts it just falls directly on teh deck. Technology is a good thing. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-9-12 8:37:41 PM |
| #7 Never went on the flight deck, as the air intake on the A-7's made me nervous. But those things looked really great with the blunt nose right above the intake. Like a flying truncheon with which to beat the enemy senseless. :) |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-9-12 4:56:29 PM |
| #6 My older brother was a shooter on the Teddy Roosevelt. Dad says that he was looking the wrong direction and almost lost his head to a plane wing. He always liked the stupidly dangerrous jobs. He did another tour as a flight instructor. The only thing more dangerous than allowing an inexperienced pilot shuttle you around is to make that same mistake on a daily basis. I made a 6 week Midshipman cruise on the Saratoga years ago. Never went on the flight deck, as the air intake on the A-7's made me nervous. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-9-12 2:27:30 PM |
| #5 Yeah, its a dangerous place alright. I spent 3 1/2 years on one. The cables are QA'd, and replaced on a schedule based on average wear and tear. However, there is no way that you can gauge the specific time that an individual cable will fail. There is too much individual difference in strain on each landing. That is why everyone stays WAY clear of them at all times. |
| Posted by: Bill 2003-9-12 2:05:26 PM |
| #4 I think it is interesting that it happened at all. The catapults and cables follow very rigid inspection and use schedules. Did we overuse this cable due to the opstempo, or is manufacturing quality decreasing due to increased demand? |
| Posted by: BossMan 2003-9-12 12:39:40 PM |
| #3 I remember hearing somewhere that one navy synonym for "aircraft carrier" is "most dangerous five acres in the world." It says something for our carrier crews that incidents like this are so rare. |
| Posted by: Mike 2003-9-12 11:51:08 AM |
| #2 "Lucky somebody didn't get cut in half." Yep |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-9-12 11:34:35 AM |
| #1 "The snapping of the wire may have directly caused or led to some of the injuries" Ya think? A 4 inch steel cable under tons of strain snapping and flailing around the deck like a angry snake? Lucky somebody didn't get cut in half. |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-9-12 10:40:45 AM |