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Two U.S. Navy aviators ejected while trying to land their aircraft on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower off the coast of Virginia on Monday evening in what the Navy described as a “mishap” that also injured four sailors.
The sailors were onboard the aircraft carrier at the time. One sailor is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a Norfolk area hospital, the Navy said.
The aviators, assigned to Carrier Air Wing 3, were successfully brought back to the ship by search and rescue personnel. They are being evaluated by medical personnel, the Navy said.
F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets on the flight deck the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) aircraft carrier during operations in the southern Red Sea on March 19, 2024. (Christopher Pike/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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The Navy did not reveal which type of two-seater plane was involved in the accident. It also did not specify what happened to the plane or what could have happened to cause the accident.
The Navy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, a nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, entered service in 1977.
The incident follows several recent mishaps in which military aviators had to eject.
The USS aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, also known as ‘IKE’, sails in the Red Sea on June 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
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In May, four Navy crew members ejected safely after two EA-18G Growlers collided during an aerial demonstration at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. Both aircraft, worth about $67 million apiece, crashed after they collided.
Former TOPGUN pilot Matthew “Whiz” Buckley told Digital last month how ejecting from an aircraft traveling at high speed can lead to lifelong injuries, when the pilot is lucky enough to survive.
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is moored at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Mercy Crowe)
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Buckley said some people he knew who had to eject suffered spinal injuries that left them several inches shorter.
“When you pull that handle, you have two choices: die or maybe live. And I said ‘maybe live’ because it’s incredibly violent,” Buckley said. “Most folks don’t even remember the ejection. They remember pulling the handle and then waking up in their parachute.”
