Half of the eight carrier sailors injured Friday when a flight deck arresting cable parted Dwight D. Eisenhower sailors injured Friday, when a flight deck arresting cable parted during an E-2C Hawkeye landing, are hospitalized and in stable condition, according to a Monday release from Naval Air Forces Atlantic; the others have been released.
Three are at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and one is at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, while the others have been released, said AIRLANT spokesman Cmdr. Mike Kafka.
"All remaining hospitalized patients are resting comfortably and some are expected to be released soon," he added,declining to go into specifics over concerns for the sailors' privacy.
It is the first time in 11 years that an arresting gear cable has snapped during flight operations.
The sailors suffered non-life threatening injuries when an arresting cable, which catches an aircraft's tailhook when landing on a carrier, snapped during flight operations aboard the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower while a E-2C Hawkeye was landing. The cables are made of wire rope coiled that's coiled around hemp, and is designed to catch the aircraft at full power.
The Hawkeye was able to get back in the air and return to Norfolk Naval Station, where initial reports were that the plane wasn't damaged and the crew was uninjured.
Ike has resumed flight ops, Kafka said. The flattop is doing its Composite Training United and Joint Task Force Exercises in preparation for its deployment this summer.
Investigators are on board looking into the accident. Cable parting accidents are rare, Kafka said. The most recent happened aboard carrier Kitty Hawk in 2005, which injured six when an F/A-18 Hornet parted the cable and sent it hurtling overboard, according to the Stars and Stripes newspaper.
Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
