ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN — Planes on the flight deck of the Everett-based carrier USS Abraham Lincoln Thursday suffered some damage in a minor collision, the second in less than a week.
During flight operations Thursday night, two F-18 Hornets being prepared for launch banged into each other. The planes were pulled off for repairs.
Prior to this week, the Lincoln had suffered no flight-deck mishaps.
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But on Sunday, two planes scraped each other. They were not damaged.
Thursday, with wings folded, one F-18 was performing prelaunch flight checks and the other was being towed into position to its left.
The right wing of the F-18 being towed hit the rear horizontal stabilizer of the other jet. The wing suffered gashes about a foot long. The extent of the damage to the other plane was not known. It was being inspected late Thursday night in the hangar bay.
The problem, said Lt. Rob Srdar, a witness to the incident, was that the rear stabilizer was in the up position when the other F-18 was going by.
"The stabilizer is not normally up, it’s down," Srdar said. "It was clear as he was taxiing by. It was bad luck or bad timing."
Chris Barron, military affairs reporter for The Sun in Bremerton, arrived Feb. 26 aboard the Everett-based aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and will be reporting from the Persian Gulf through at least March 23.
Barron will report on the ship’s crew and its activities. He will respond to reader questions about the crew, the ship and his experiences. To submit a question to him, e-mail Barron at askChris@thesunlink.com.
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