Mon, Jan 30, 2006
Pilot Ejects Safely, Aircraft To Be Left At Sea
The pilot of an F/A-18 Hornet was safely rescued after he bailed
out while attempting a night landing on the USS Ronald Reagan near
Queensland, Australia Saturday.
Ship spokesman Lieutenant Commander Gary Ross told the
Queensland Courier-Mail the plane was lost at 10:17 pm Saturday
night, during a failed landing attempt onboard the Ronald
Reagan.
"It was attempting to land on the flight deck during night
flights," he said. "The pilot ejected and was rescued using one of
our helicopters."
The accident happened approximately 250 miles southeast of
Brisbane.
It is not yet known what problem the pilot encountered that led
to the ejection, and the loss of the $37 million fighter. Ross
believes it wasn't due to a problem with the aircraft, however.
"The aircraft is maintained constantly during operations," he
said. "We constantly monitor how long the aircraft operates and
flies -- and according to our maintenance regulations, that is when
we perform maintenance on the aircraft."
As a precaution, the other five Hornets participating in the
night landing exercise flew to Brisbane after the incident.
"We just did the safest option, to send them to Brisbane
International Airport." Ross said.
Military officials stated it is not known if the aircraft was
carrying live ordnance at the time it went down. One official
stated it was unlikely an attempt would be made to recover
the aircraft -- although the military usually tries to
recover crashed planes to safeguard the electronics
onboard.
As was reported earlier this month by
Aero-News, the Ronald Reagan is currently on its
maiden overseas deployment.
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