Navy investigators want to know why a fighter jet on Friday was blown off the deck of an aircraft carrier operating in the Mediterranean.
According to the initial reports, the Navy F-18 fighter jet went into the water as a result of “unexpected heavy weather.” The aircraft was aboard the USS Harry S. Truman, normally based in Norfolk.
The Truman was conducting a replenishment-at-sea, an operation in which supplies are transferred from one ship to another while underway, when the F-18 was blown overboard. A sailor received “minor injuries” during the unexpected heavy weather, officials said.
“All personnel aboard the ship are accounted for,” officials with U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa said Sunday in a statement.
Some commenters to a Navy page on the Reddit social media site wanted to know if the fighter jet had been secured to the deck with chains, as is the usual practice aboard an aircraft carrier.