Carrier Mishaps Result in Limits on New Fighter Use

Two squadrons of the Navy’s newest front-line fighters, the F/A-18 Hornets, have been placed under temporary flight restrictions after recent accidents in which the main landing gears collapsed during carrier landings, the service said Wednesday.

The Navy said the incidents occurred Sept. 30 and Oct. 2 aboard the aircraft carrier Constellation. No one was hurt in the accidents and the planes received minor damage.

The incidents did, however, prompt a weeklong grounding of all 16 F/A-18s aboard the Constellation and the dispatch of a special investigative team to the carrier, the Navy said.

Gear Replacement Ordered

At least five of the Hornets assigned to the carrier have been ordered flown to the Naval Air Station at Lemoore, Calif., for replacement of their main landing gear lower assembly, the Navy said.

The Constellation is continuing a routine deployment in the North Pacific, the Navy said. The remaining F/A-18s on board returned to flight status last week under restrictions that limit their maximum landing weight pending completion of the probe.

“An engineering group, composed of technical experts from the McDonnell Douglas Corp. and the Naval Air Rework Facility at North Island, Calif., arrived on board Constellation on Oct. 4,” the Navy said.

“The group is investigating the two incidents to determine the cause of the landing gear collapse,” it added.

McDonnell Douglas is the prime contractor for the Hornet.

Landing Weight Restricted

Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Mukri, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon, said the only F/A-18s affected by the landing-weight restrictions are those aboard the Constellation. Squadrons assigned to land bases are not affected, he said.

The Constellation is the only aircraft carrier now deployed at sea with the new fighter. The carrier Coral Sea also carries the F/A-18, but it recently returned home after a deployment to the Mediterranean.