2 Navy aviators eject while landing plane on carrier off Virginia, 6 other sailors also hurt

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two U.S. Navy aviators ejected as they were landing their plane on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier off the coast of Virginia, a mishap that also injured six sailors aboard the vessel.

It is the latest mishap involving Navy aircraft in the past couple of years, including two Navy jets that collided during an air show in Idaho in May as well as a fighter jet and a helicopter crashing into the South China Sea in October. Pentagon data released last year showed a spike in aviation mishaps across the U.S. military in 2024.

The two aviators ejected from their E/A-18G Growler on Monday after a failure of the arresting gear that was designed to bring the jet to a halt after landing, the Navy said in a statement. They were rescued and safely returned to the ship, it said.

The aviators, who are attached to the “Zappers” of an electronic attack squadron and assigned to Carrier Air Wing 3, and six other sailors were evaluated by the ship’s medical personnel, the Navy said. One sailor was transported to a hospital in the Norfolk, Virginia, area to be treated for injuries that were not life threatening, while the two aviators and two sailors injured on the flight deck were flown to a naval medical center for further evaluation.

Mishap follows several aviation incidents in recent years

Other recent mishaps have included a Navy helicopter crash in July in the Arabian Sea in which the pilot died and three sailors were rescued. The helicopter was supporting the Iran war, but the Navy said at the time that the crash was an emergency landing and there was “no indication the emergency was caused by hostile action.”

The USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier experienced four mishaps while defending commercial shipping in the Red Sea against attacks from the Iran-backed Houthis in 2024 and 2025. In a friendly fire incident, a guided-missile cruiser fired at two fighter jets from the Truman, downing one. The Truman also collided with a merchant vessel. An F-18 fighter jet fell off the Truman when it made a sharp turn to avoid a Houthi missile. Another went overboard while trying to land after the cable designed to bring the 50,000-pound jet to a halt snapped from poor maintenance.

In 2024, two crew members died in Washington state after their EA-18G Growler jet from an electronic attack squadron crashed east of Mount Rainier during a routine training flight. They were based out of the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. A report from the crash investigation has not been released.

Aircraft carriers draw attention as Iran war continues

The nuclear-powered Nimitz-class USS Dwight D. Eisenhower was commissioned in 1977 and recently completed extensive maintenance, repairs and modernization work at a shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia. It also had conducted sea trials in April following the overhaul, according to a Navy news release.

It has been taking part in checks following those repairs, with amateur ship spotters seeing the ship leaving Naval Station Norfolk on Monday afternoon.

The Eisenhower has not played a role in the U.S. war against Iran, which has now lasted seven months. But concerns have been growing that some sailors have been stretched to the limit during the conflict. The U.S.-led campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels in 2024 and 2025 also took a toll on the service’s ships and personnel.

The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group spent a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea supporting the war, during which reports emerged of crew stress and poor mental health, as well as shortages of food and hygiene products. The Lincoln’s extended deployment drew the nation’s attention and increasing scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers.

As of Monday, the Lincoln was still on its way home to San Diego, according to a news release from Democratic Rep. Sara Jacobs of California. She and other lawmakers visited the carrier and spoke to sailors and Marines, who Jacobs said shared stories of “their struggles to wash clothes, get medicine and health care, and eat enough food.”

Jacobs said she blames President Donald Trump for the strike group’s “mail delays, food and supply shortages, low morale, and mental health crises.”

The Lincoln was replaced in the Middle East by the Asia-based USS George Washington aircraft carrier, which left the western Pacific without one of the key American warships at a time when China is showing more signs of aggression.

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Associated Press writers David Rising in Bangkok and Martha Bellisle in Seattle contributed to this report.