The two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet, worth around $67 million, went overboard after an unsuccessful attempt to slow it down as it landed, the US Central Command said.
A defense official told AFP the hook of the aircraft failed to catch the arresting wire on the aircraft carrier.
"The arrestment failed, causing the aircraft to go overboard," the official said, adding "both aviators safely ejected and were rescued by the search and rescue helicopter."
"The aviators were evaluated by medical personnel and assessed to have minor injuries. No flight deck personnel were injured."
It is the second F/A-18 operating off the Truman to be lost in just over a week.
Another jet fell off the same carrier on April 28 in an accident that injured one sailor, and also dragged a tractor that was towing the fighter plane into the sea.
And late last year, a F/A-18 operating off the Truman was lost after it was mistakenly shot down by the USS Gettysburg guided missile cruiser. Both pilots survived that incident.
The Truman is one of two US aircraft carriers operating in the Middle East, where US forces have been hammering Yemen's Huthi rebels with strikes since mid-March in an attempt to end the threat they pose to ships in the region.
Mediator Oman said Tuesday the United States and the Huthis had agreed a ceasefire.
Finnish fighter jet crashes in Arctic town, pilot ejected
Rovaniemi, Finland (AFP) May 7, 2025 -
A Finnish F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet crashed Wednesday near the Rovaniemi airport in Finland's Arctic north, but the pilot was rescued after ejecting, the armed forces said.
No details were available about the cause of the crash, which occurred "in the Rovaniemi airport area" around 11:00 am (0800 GMT), the military said.
"The pilot, who escaped in an ejection seat, has been taken to a health facility for further examination. There are no injuries on the ground related to the plane crash," it said in a post on X.
Dark smoke could be seen rising from the scene and several emergency vehicles were dispatched to the area.
Witness Mika Lehtiniemi saw the fighter jet in the sky just before the crash as he drove along a nearby bridge.
He told Finnish broadcaster YLE it was flying unusually low over the Syvasenvaara residential area before it appeared to stall, its nose turning upwards.
"The plane stood up very strongly and turned on its back, as it were. Then a few seconds passed and I saw a cloud of black smoke. I didn't see the fire, (just) the black horrible smoke," he said.
Airport operator Finavia told AFP it did not expect civilian flights to be affected by the accident for the time being, with the next flight not expected for several hours.
Police were cordoning off the area to make way for rescue operations, said police inspector Jouni Koivunen.
"An investigation will be launched together with the Air Force once those rescue operations have been completed," he told AFP.
A Nordic defence ministers' meeting was taking place in Rovaniemi on Wednesday. The ministers had been due to observe training exercises, but that was cancelled after the accident.
The Finnish air force's fleet of F/A-18 Hornets were delivered by Boeing between 1995 and 2000 and are due to be decommissioned by 2030, replaced by F-35s from rival US aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.
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