​​Jet Fighter Landed on a Container Ship

Ian Watson - a young British the Royal Navy's pilot - was flying a Sea Harrier, a short take-off and vertical landing/vertical take-off and landing jet fighter.

On June 6, 1983, NATO conducted exercises in the Atlantic Ocean. They were held jointly with the British aircraft carrier "HMS Illustrious" which was off the coast of Portugal. Taking off from the carrier deck, a pair of fighters, one piloted by Watson, were tasked with locating a French aircraft carrier while operating in radio silence and with radar off. When the mission was completed, Watson was ordered to return to the carrier HMS Illustrious. At that moment, for unknown reasons, his aircraft experienced a failure in its navigation and radio equipment. As a result, he became disoriented and couldn't find his carrier.

With fuel running critically low, Watson headed towards the nearest shipping lane. He managed to establish visual contact with the container ship "Alraigo." Realizing he couldn't make it back to the carrier and that fuel was about to run out, he decided to eject within the ship's sight, hoping for rescue by the crew. Suddenly, he noticed that the containers on the ship formed a flat surface suitable for vertical landing. The "Alraigo" was carrying a support plate for one of the telescopes of the Isaac Newton group in the Canary Islands. Finding no other way out, Watson landed his aircraft on one of these containers.

Immediately after touchdown, the fighter began sliding down the stack of containers. Watson attempted to stop the slide by raising the fighter's landing gear, but it didn't help. Moments later, the aircraft collided with a van parked on the deck and froze in a ludicrous position. Exactly 4 days later, still in the same position, the fighter arrived in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. The aircraft was repaired, and the crew and owners of the container ship received compensation of around $700,000.

The investigation commission found that Watson had completed only 75% of his training before being sent to sea. The British government blamed the pilot for inexperience and criticized his commanding officers for allowing an airworthiness issue with the aircraft. The pilot received a severe reprimand and was transferred to office duty. Later, he returned to the sky and amassed nearly 3000 hours of flight time before retiring in 1996. As for the fighter, after the incident, it was upgraded to the FA2 version and operated until September 2003. Currently, this aircraft is exhibited at the Newark Air Museum in England.