(Image: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Arthurgwain L. Marquez / U.S. Navy)
These impressive photographs show the wreckage of a Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet being salvaged around two months after the warplane plummeted into the Arabian Sea (watch the video of the salvage operation below). The US Navy jet crashed on May 12, 2015 soon after takeoff from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. It’s unclear what caused the accident, but according to Popular Mechanics, an engine malfunction or mechanical failure may have been to blame.
(Image: US Navy)
The Super Hornet was part of a task force dispatched to the region to fight Islamic State as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. Reports at the time claimed that the crash was “not a result of hostile activity” and The Aviationist reported that the two-man crew are understood to have ejected safely. The forward fuselage section including cockpit were recovered first. The salvage ship USNS Catawba later returned for the rest of the wreckage. Five hundred Super Hornets had been built as of fiscal year 2011 at a flyaway cost of $60.9 million.
(Images: US Navy)
After being pulled out of the sea the wrecked Super Hornet was lowered inverted onto a collection of wooden pallets.
(Image: aceebee; F/A-18F Super Hornet 166814 before being written off)
The photograph above shows the same aircraft (serial number 166814) parked on the deck of the Theodore Roosevelt in March 2015, two months before the accident that destroyed the two seat jet. Watch the salvage video here:
Related: Boneyard Bandits: Former Aggressor Squadron F-18 Hornets Await the End
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