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An RAF pilot has told the incredible story of how he escaped a fighter jet which plummeted off a ship’s runway into the sea.
Hux was alone in the cockpit of the Lightning II F-35 when he took off from the UK’s flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth in November 2021.
But the £120million plane ended up careering off the ship and plunging into the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Egypt.
A grainy phone recording of the CCTV footage was leaked at the time.
Now, Hux has detailed how he survived the ordeal, telling The Times: ‘I tried for emergency power – that didn’t work, then I tried to slap on the brakes – that didn’t work either. So I kind of knew it was going to roll off the ship.’
When neither of these measures worked, Hux’s ejector seat activated and shot him into the air.
He looked down, expecting to see the ocean beneath him, but quickly realised he was headed for the flight deck of the ship.
RAF pilot Hux had to be ejected from the Lightning II F-35 fighter jet in November 2021 (Picture: PA)
An F-35B Lightning Jet launching from HMS Queen Elizabeth in November 2021 (Picture: PA)
The UK’s Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth off the coast of Portugal (Picture: AP)
Hux managed to land safely on the deck and avoided being dragged under the ship.
It took seven days to recover the wreckage of the F-35, with the help of Italy and the US, and a soldier was arrested for leaking the video to the public.
After a 10-month investigation, it was concluded the crash was caused by someone forgetting to remove a rain cover.
A report said the cover ’caused a restriction in airflow to the engine such that it was unable to generate enough power for take-off’.
The drama unfolded while a BBC crew was on board the HMS Queen Elizabeth to film the docuseries The Warship: Tour of Duty.
A joint operation with the UK, the US and Italy took seven days to recover the wreckage of the F-35
Filmmaker Chris Terrill said: ‘An aircraft might have been lost but there was a pilot, a shipmate, who had to be saved.’
The ship was returning from a seven-month maiden voyage to the Far East at the time.
The UK has 24 F-35s and this was the first major incident involving the single-seat, single-engine combat aircrafts.
The US-designed jet was created to be superior during strike missions, owing to its ability to fly at supersonic speeds and go undetected on radars.
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The pilot said: ‘I tried for emergency power – that didn’t work, then I tried to slap on the brakes – that didn’t work either.’
