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The US Navy has recovered an F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet from the Mediterranean Sea.
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It was recovered at a depth of approximately 9,500 feet using a remote-controlled vehicle.
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Last month, the plane blew off the USS Harry S. Truman during “unexpected severe weather.”
The US Navy said Monday it recently found a sunken F/A-18E Super Hornet blown off the deck of an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean Sea last month.
The Navy said in a statement that it “successfully recovered” the plane from a depth of about 9,500 feet last week.
A team aboard the multipurpose construction vessel Everest used a remote-controlled vehicle to attach rigging and lifting lines to the jet before using a lifting hook to fish the plane out of the water and onto Everest, the Navy said.
“Our custom team worked safely and efficiently to meet the timeline. The search and recovery took less than 24 hours, a real testament to the team’s dedication and ability,” Lt. cmdr. Miguel Lewis, a Sixth Fleet salvage officer who helped salvage the plane, said in the statement.
The plane blew the USS Harry S. Truman overboard in early July due to “unexpected severe weather” in the Mediterranean, the Navy said at the time. The aircraft carrier was in the middle of a resupply at sea when the plane flew off the deck. One sailor suffered minor injuries, but has since recovered.
The incident led to an investigation, because it was not immediately clear how bad weather could throw the heavy aircraft into the sea. Since it was recovered, the jet has been sent to a nearby military installation, where it will be delivered to the US.
The Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornets serve as the main jet fighters on aircraft carriers, although naval service has begun equipping some aircraft carriers with newer fifth-generation F-35Cs.
This incident in which an F/A-18 flew overboard marks the third time in less than a year that a Western navy has lost a fighter jet at sea and was forced to deploy additional resources to recover it.
In November last year, a British pilot operating for the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth dumped an F-35B in the Mediterranean Sea, and in January a US Navy pilot jumped from an F-35C when the fighter crashed onto the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and slipped into the South China Sea.
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