British Sea Harriers are formidable jet fighters known for their vertical take-off
and landing capabilities. In 1983, these aptitudes would make international news
during one of the most spectacular emergency landings in recent history.
During a routine training exercise, Sub-Lieutenant Ian Watson, a young
25-year-old pilot flying the 7-million-dollar aircraft, became lost in the middle of the
sea. His navigation systems malfunctioned, and his radio wasn’t able to reach base.
Desperate, the pilot began an ardent physical search for the carrier.
After traveling tens of miles with no results, Watson realized he was running out of time,
as his fuel tanks were almost empty.
Knowing he had few options left, the pilot made peace with the possibility
of ejecting from the plane and letting the precious jet sink to the bottom of the sea.
But just as his meter marked that he had fuel for less than a minute of flying time,
Watson spotted a small Spanish cargo ship. This would be the only chance he would have
to save the Sea Harrier and himself from a guaranteed demise.
The space on the ship’s deck was reduced by the various containers it carried,
and Watson would have to land on top of them. The maneuver was perilous,
the results were caught on camera, and the incident caused an international scandal...
A Medium-Range Fighter
In contrast to most jet fighters of their kind, the British Sea Harriers are not equipped with
supersonic-capable engines. They are subsonic medium-range fighters designed to conduct
defensive operations for Royal Navy task groups. In other words, they protect Britain’s carriers.
The design of these fighters stemmed from the aftermath of World War 2.
After the war, political pressure in the UK to grow a healthy peacetime economy
and decrease the size of the military caused a drastic contraction of the Royal Navy.
England’s government wasn’t willing to fund and maintain the colossal capital ships and
navy carriers that had been regularly developed during the previous decades.
In response to this obstacle, the Royal Navy stopped requesting vast Navy carriers
and concentrated on developing light aircraft carriers instead.
The switch to light aircraft carriers implied a general change in warfare tactics.
In contrast to the slow and colossal Navy carriers,
these ones were fast and small and could carry only a minimal quantity of aircraft.
The small and agile light carriers served a support role;
they would cover amphibious operations and defend fleets from enemy attacks. Hence the
need for a versatile and powerful fighter that didn’t require vast space to land or take off.
Thanks to its single Rolls-Royce Pegasus turbofan engine, the fighter jet had enough power to
perform effectively while keeping a light enough structure that allowed increased agility and the
versatility to carry additional weapons and external fuel tanks mounted under its wings.
In addition, it has two landing gear systems on the fuselage
and two outrigger ones on the wings designed to perform both conventional and vertical landings.
The addition of ski jump equipment allowed the aircraft to take off
from a short flight deck with a heftier payload than would otherwise be possible.
The maximum range of the Harrier was only 460 miles, which meant the fighter had to
stay relatively close to its carrier base to successfully resupply fuel.
After an extended development and testing program, the Sea Harrier was deployed in 1981,
debuting more than 300 units. As the years passed, the aircraft became more
and more specialized in support and defensive maneuvers as a substitute for strike operations.
Despite its firepower and versatility,
the Sea Harrier was criticized for its obsolete radar and navigation systems.
The Blue Fox radar system, which the first iteration of the fighter used, was prone to
failure and showcased a peculiarly low performance compared to what was available at the time.
Lost at Sea
Lieutenant Ian Watson took off from HMS Illustrious
on June 7, 1983, with a first-generation fighter, specifically the Royal Navy Sea Harrier ZA 176.
Watson had limited flight experience, especially flying by himself,
and had only piloted the Harrier 13 times before that day.
With 75 hours of flight time, he wasn’t officially fit to conduct NATO operations.
However, he was a determined and resourceful young pilot,
and his commanding officer sent him along with an experienced senior pilot.
The mission revolved around a particular scenario: the two aircraft had to locate
a lost French carrier while simulating combat conditions. The explicit setting
demanded that both pilots turn off their radars, radio, and navigational systems,
and the challenge was to find the carrier without such location advantages.
As both Harriers took off and dispersed, the pilots complied with the mission requirement
and turned off their navigational gear. After successfully completing the mission scenario,
Watson prepared to safely return to the carrier.
The young pilot booted up his navigation systems just to realize something was wrong.
The first thing Watson attempted to do was contact his mission partner through the radio,
but he received only silence.
The radio system on that specific Sea Harrier was known to be malfunctioning,
and now it was completely dead. Watson later commented on the actions that followed: (QUOTE)
“I went through everything I had in the airplane to help me. I tried the radio. I had
the radar on. I squawked emergency. Absolutely nothing. There were no returns on the radar.”
The pilot then tried to locate his base ship by his own navigation instincts, but he flew
utterly blind for a long time and could not find the carrier or his flight companion.
Bad turned to worse as Watson realized he had less
than 12 minutes of flight time before his Harrier would run out of fuel.
He was in the middle of the ocean, and even if he ejected the plane before a water crash,
he would surely drown as there was no way to call for help.
The Landing
Watson suddenly turned east as he remembered that there were shipping
lanes off the coast of Portugal. And just as his fuel reserves were about to drain,
he spotted a small cargo ship, the Alraigo. It was his last hope.
With only a few minutes of flight time left, Watson’s mission was clear: he had to make
sure the ship saw him before ejecting and hoping the ship’s crew would rescue him.
He then dived for a fly-by to try to get the attention of the sailors, and when
Watson flew over the ship, he could see that the containers it carried were piled up high, forming
a small platform with a size very similar to the landing pads where he had been training to land.
He would later say about this realization: (QUOTE) “Well, I thought, in for a penny, in for a pound,
and I landed the airplane on the containers.”
In his mind, landing on the ship would be a better option to eject; he would avoid
not being spotted and rescued by the crew and also save the 7-million-dollar fighter.
As he performed his vertical landing on top of the containers,
he deployed the landing gears too late. The fighter then slid backward,
falling down from the containers and leaning against a white van transported by the ship.
Luckily, he, the plane, and the ship’s crew were safe.
Repercussions
Watson was not welcomed aboard the Spanish ship with open arms. The ship’s captain was
furious and refused to change his schedule due to the misadventures of a rookie British pilot.
He then radioed the British carrier and told them that if they wanted their Harrier back,
they would have to wait four days until he landed in Tenerife.
When the cargo ship finally arrived at the port, a massive crowd of reporters
was waiting to interview the pilot and capture the peculiar scenario.
The Royal Navy was humiliated by the incident and was forced to pay a fee
of 1.14 million dollars to the ship’s owners as a salvage fee for returning the lost Harrier.
As for Watson, he was recalled to HMS Illustrious, and although he wasn’t officially reprimanded,
he was still assigned to a desk job.
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