An arresting wire let go on the Eisenhower and both Growler crew punched out

Both crew members of a Navy EA-18G Growler ejected during a landing on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower after the carrier’s arresting gear failed, and both were recovered by search-and-rescue personnel and returned to the ship. The jet belonged to Electronic Attack Squadron 130, the “Zappers,” and the mishap happened at about 6:18 p.m. EDT off the Virginia coast.

Eight sailors were evaluated afterward, including the two aviators and two crew members hurt on the flight deck. The Navy has not said what made the gear fail, and its statement says only that the cause is under investigation.

Arresting gear failure on recovery

A carrier landing depends on the arresting gear, the system of cross-deck wires and below-deck machinery that catches the jet’s tailhook and stops it within a short stretch of deck. When the system fails, the aircraft has nowhere to go, because the landing area ends at the edge of the ship. The War Zone described the failure of an arresting wire as “one of the worst nightmares for naval aircrew and sailors working on the flight deck,” a line that explains why both aviators chose to eject rather than ride the jet over the bow.

The Navy’s own wording is more restrained. As The Aviationist reported, the service confirmed “a mishap involving an E/A-18G Growler, attached to VAQ-130, occurred during aircraft recovery operations,” and attributed the ejections to an arresting gear failure. Whether a wire parted, a connection released or the machinery below deck malfunctioned has not been released, so the phrase “arresting gear failure” is as far as the official record goes.

Eight sailors evaluated, one hospitalised

The casualty picture is less severe than the ejections suggest. According to USNI News, a Navy statement said eight sailors were evaluated by ship’s medical personnel and that “One Sailor was flown to a Norfolk-area hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.” The War Zone names that hospital as Sentara Norfolk General.

The two aviators and two flight deck sailors went to Naval Medical Center Portsmouth for evaluation, and the remaining sailors were checked aboard ship. Counts of the injured differ by outlet, with four, six and “at least five” all appearing in headlines, so the safest reading is the Navy’s own: eight evaluated, one flown ashore for treatment.

Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 7 handled the search and rescue, which brought both aviators back to the carrier.

A carrier still in its workup cycle

The Eisenhower had left Naval Station Norfolk on the afternoon of the mishap, and the crash came as the ship worked through carrier qualifications. Navy Times noted that the carrier finished its maintenance period in April after returning from a nine-month deployment that ended in 2024, and The War Zone placed it in the Tailored Ship’s Training Availability phase ahead of a 2027 deployment, the stretch in which a crew rebuilds its flight deck routines after time in the yard. Migflug adds that the Nimitz-class carrier, commissioned in 1977, was in the early workup phases, and that carrier qualifications, when pilots re-qualify for arrested landings on a moving deck, are a particularly demanding stage of that cycle.

The outlets disagree on the calendar date. USNI News and The Aviationist date the mishap September 28, while Navy Times dates it September 29, and the time of about 6:18 p.m. is common to all of them.

The Navy framed the outcome as proof that preparation worked. Baird Maritime quoted the service saying “Carrier crews regularly train for emergencies and unexpected situations during flight operations, and that training enabled the crew to respond quickly and safely.” The jet was assigned to Carrier Air Wing 3, and the ship’s own recent history includes a small fire in April during maintenance at Norfolk Naval Shipyard that was contained without serious injury.

Naming the aircraft and the investigation ahead

The Navy’s first statements did not identify the aircraft type. Migflug’s early write-up noted that USNI News had described a two-seat jet, which left a Super Hornet, a Growler or a T-45C trainer as candidates, and the Growler identification came later in a Navy statement picked up by The War Zone. That sequence is why early coverage varies on both the aircraft and the number of injured.

A mishap investigation board will examine the approach, the arresting wire engagement, the aircraft’s systems and the ejection sequence, according to Migflug, which adds that such reviews typically take months and often surface only through public records requests. For the squadron, the immediate result is a lost aircraft and two aviators under medical review while the ship continues toward its 2027 deployment, and the arresting gear that failed is the central piece of evidence the board will weigh.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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