Ian “Soapy” Watson, the Sea Harrier pilot, had completed only 75 percent of the recommended flying hours.
The Royal Navy Sea Harrier ZA176 made an emergency landing aboard the cargo ship Alraigo on June 7, 1983. This post’s news video shows Sea Harrier ZA176 and Sub-Lt. Ian Watson’s rescue following the Alraigo’s June 1983 docking in Santa Cruz, Tenerife.
Particularly, senior officers reprimanded inexperienced Royal Navy pilot Ian “Soapy” Watson for his incompetence after he lost control of a £7 million Sea Harrier jump jet and landed onto a container ship’s deck.
However, as The Telegraph revealed in 2007, they were secretly shifting the responsibility in an attempt to avoid paying out £570,000 in compensation.
A file released on May 31, 2007, at the National Archives, describes how Sub-Lt. Watson, 25, “incurred the Commander in Chief of the Fleet’s Displeasure” for displaying an unsatisfactory standard of fundamental airmanship.
However, the Ministry of Defense file reveals that before being called into service, he had only accrued 75% of the recommended flying hours in training and had been given permission to fly an aircraft with a known radio defect.
An unnamed senior officer commented: “I am speechless, as was Watson.” Sub-Lt. Watson had taken off from the carrier HMS Illustrious off the Spanish coast on Jun. 7, 1983, to conduct a NATO search exercise.
After winning a salvage claim, the crew of the 2,300-ton Spanish container ship Alraigo shared £340,000, with the owners receiving the remaining £230,000.
Photo by JF Aleman-Canary Islands Spotting, via aviationcorner.net