AP Photo/Petros Karadjias
- A Royal Navy F-35 pilot described ejecting from an F-35 during a failed takeoff.
- He told the BBC the jet wasn't accelerating and was going to "roll off the ship," so he had to get out.
- He used his parachute and ended up landing on the deck, avoiding being sucked under the warship.
A UK fighter pilot has described ejecting from his F-35 just before the aircraft fell into the sea.
The Royal Navy pilot, known as Hux, spoke to the BBC about the November 2021 incident, when the fighter jet plunged into the waters off the huge HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier during an attempted takeoff.
While the incident took place in 2021, the interview has only just been released.
Hux said that his jet suddenly lost acceleration, and his efforts to get it to react properly didn't work. "I tried for emergency power - that didn't work, then I tried to slap on the brakes - that didn't work either… so I kind of knew it was going to roll off the ship," he said.
He added that he then used his ejector seat, and good luck meant that he ended up above the ship. "A second later I could see the flight deck of the ship starting to appear beneath me," he said.
Hux added that he was able to land back on the deck, just a few feet away from the edge. If he had landed in the water he could have been pulled underneath the 65,000-ton warship, the BBC reported.
An interim investigation into the incident, which finished in June 2022, found that it was likely caused by an intake cover being left on the aircraft, which reduced its power.
The pilot "attempted to abort the take-off but was unable to stop the aircraft before the end of the ramp and ejected," it said.
The pilot was successful in getting back on the ship with his parachute, and only had "minor injuries," the investigation added. The jet sank beneath the waters.
The UK Ministry of Defence said in December 2021 that the jet had been recovered from the sea.