Quite a Harri(er) Situation

"Jcarr" (jcarr)
11/14/2016 at 09:40 • Filed to: Planelopnik

Remember that time a Harrier had to make an emergency landing on a cargo ship?

It was known as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Here is a summary of the events from Wikipedia:

On 7 June 1983 !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Sub Lieutenant Ian “Soapy” Watson was a junior Royal Navy Pilot undertaking his first NATO exercise from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which was operating off the coast of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Watson was launched in a pair of aircraft tasked with locating a French aircraft carrier under combat conditions including radio-silence and radar switched off.

After completing the search Watson flew to an arranged meeting point with his flight leader. When the flight leader did not appear Watson turned towards Invincible expecting it to appear on the radar; when he was unable to find the carrier he made a radio transmission. It was at this stage he realized his radio was not working and the NAVHARS (inertial navigation system) had not taken him back to the expected location for landing.

As Sea Harrier ZA176 began to run low on fuel Watson turned the aircraft East towards a known shipping lane making radar contact with a surface vessel at 50 mi (80 km). At 12 mi (19 km) he made visual contact with the container ship Alraigo and initially planned to eject in sight of the vessel.

After performing an initial fly-by of the Alraigo Watson noticed that the ship was carrying a number of flat topped containers similar in size to a practice landing pad. The container was carrying a base plate for a telescope being delivered to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! On his second approach Watson landed the Sea Harrier on top of the shipping container with only a few minutes of flight time to spare. As he touched down the aircraft began to slide backwards on the wet surface. Watson attempted to retract the landing gear to arrest the slide but this failed and the aircraft slipped backwards off the container and onto the roof of a van parked on the deck. The van partially held up the fuselage and stopped a further slide.

Four days later a considerable international media presence witnessed the Alraigo sail into dock at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! with the Sea Harrier still perched on its container. The aircraft was salvageable, and the ship’s crew and owners were awarded Ł570,000 compensation. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! When Watson returned to the Illustrious, a Board of Inquiry essentially did nothing. But when the Illustrious returned to port, Watson underwent a second Board of Inquiry.

In 2007, Britain’s National Archives released a number of Royal Navy files, and the second inquiry report was finally made public. Noting that Watson had completed only 75 percent of his training before he had been sent to sea, the board blamed Watson’s inexperience, and his commanders for assigning him an airplane “not fully prepared for the sortie,” a reference to radio problems. Nonetheless, Watson was reprimanded and given a desk job.

Watson eventually acquired 2,000 hours in Sea Harriers and another 900 in F/A-18s before resigning his commission in 1996. Today, he says that media attention embarrassed Royal Navy brass and caused the punishment, but refuses to point fingers. “It was me,” he says. “I was there and that’s where it should stop.” !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

Sea Harrier ZA176 was converted to the FA2 variant in 1992 and retired from service 20 September 2003. The aircraft is now on display at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in Nottinghamshire England in its FA2 configuration. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!