A-6E Carrier Wave-Off Accident

A rather strange accidents dated back to May 2, 1987. A USN A-6E misses the wire while landing on a Carrier-Vessel and goes beyond the angled flight deck. The pilots decide to eject but the plane flies away!!

Tags: A-6, Accident, US_NAVY, USN

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Pablo Andres Baratelli says..

Very funny, the plane continue flying alone !!, sorry for the pilots !!! bad moment guys, but correct option.

Posted 2 Years Ago

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Ken Prignano says..

I was on the Bow that Day as the Top Side PO for V2 Catapults onboard the USS Lexington(AVT-16) In the Gulf of Mexico
Funny Here but not then when it happened. The A-6 pulled stright up to approx 3500 ft then Hammerhead straight down heading in our direction. The ship did a hard turn to starboard to avoid it. It Crash about 100-200 yards away from Us. A Tailhook failure was the cause of the accident.

Posted 3 Years Ago

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Robbie Wilson says..

premature ejection?

Posted 3 Years Ago

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Robbie Wilson says..

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Originally posted by topgun87
Take a closer look guys, he catches the wire but it snaps. Look at how the plane initially slows down a second after it hits, indicating he trapped the wire. The wire broke but also caused the aircraft's decelleration. Once off the end of the deck the pilot noticed some serious sink and made the decision to pull the handle. We all know what happens from there. Landing on a pitching carrier deck is no small feat, and when something goes wrong, you have a split second to make a life or death decision.

Posted 3 Years Ago

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Jeffrey Thornton says..

Take a closer look guys, he catches the wire but it snaps. Look at how the plane initially slows down a second after it hits, indicating he trapped the wire. The wire broke but also caused the aircraft's decelleration. Once off the end of the deck the pilot noticed some serious sink and made the decision to pull the handle. We all know what happens from there. Landing on a pitching carrier deck is no small feat, and when something goes wrong, you have a split second to make a life or death decision.

Posted 3 Years Ago

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Enrico says..

I think the guys simply calculated that they hadn't enough speed to mantain level flight beyond the flight deck...
Unfortunately, they didn't have a lot of time to think about it!!! ;-)

Posted 3 Years Ago

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Luis De Leon Sanchez says..

i dont think so, because they final aproche its a full power, maybe the pilot freks out

Posted 3 Years Ago

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Gerard Cuomo says..

Keep in mind that had they stayed with the aircraft, it might not have recovered. Once they hit the chicken-switch, that plane lost maybe 400lbs and had its CG shifted aft at the same time therby raising its nose.

Posted 3 Years Ago

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Stano says..

yeah, i heard about that MiG. only one MiG at the west during Cold war :-))

Posted 3 Years Ago

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Guest says..

I remember an East German MiG-23/27 whose pilot ejected for a suspected engine failure whereas the aircraft actually flew for hundreds of miles and finally crashed to fuel starvation onto a house in Belgium..it was back in 1988 or 1989.

Anyway, I agree with STAF...very expensive ejection!!!!!!!!!

Posted 3 Years Ago

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Guest says..

Haha, that's one of the funniest things ever! - I wonder where that plane crashed though.

Posted 3 Years Ago

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Stano says..

too expensive ejection !

Posted 3 Years Ago

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Uploaded on July 24, 2006
By Enrico