The video in this post was captured on board the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea (CV-43) and shows a mishap on CAT-3 as an F-4B Phantom II of VF-151 is pushed down the deck by its damaged nose gear following a miscue
The video in this post, which was shot on board the USS Coral Sea (CV-43), shows an accident on CAT-3 in which a VF-151 F-4B Phantom II is dragged down the deck by its damaged nose gear. If you look attentively, you can see the nose gear collapsing before becoming entangled in the bridal/shuttle that is dragging the Phantom II into the water.
As AO2 Tom Pokora explains in a video comment:
‘I was also on deck that day when the skipper and LCdr Keating had to eject. I was standing right across from the waist cat when the accident occurred. I have always maintained that the hold-back “apple” prematurely broke and the F-4 in full burner lurched forward just before the cat fired. The cables fell off and the plane rolled down the deck ways and the shuttle blew the nose gear up into the radome. The plane continued down the deck on it’s nose and ejection occurred just before it went off the angle deck. Canopies and ejection seats were coming down and I had to scramble. I looked aft and saw Cdr. Winton blowing down the deck and over the fantail. I remember he did not want us to try and grab him as he knew there was no stopping him with the deck wind. A very sad day.’
John Chesire, a former US Navy F-4 Phantom II Pilot, describes on Quora;
‘Aircraft carrier’s catapult catastrophic malfunction happens, but it is thankfully a rare occurrence. Nevertheless, the possibility is in the back of the mind of everyone who sits on the catapult at full power, waiting to be shot off the ship within two seconds time.
‘The more common failure is called a “cold cat” whereby the end speed off the catapult is not enough to maintain flight and the aircraft falls into the water off the ship’s bow.
‘However, other failures can occur. The video below was my squadron just before I joined them. The cable from the catapult to the aircraft snapped, and the freed shuttle came forward, breaking the nose wheel. The aircraft could not stop, both pilot and RIO ejected, but the RIO died.’
Video: Coral Sea PLAT video from Gary Schreffler
