{"id":64891,"date":"2026-05-07T23:44:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T21:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=64891"},"modified":"2026-05-11T22:56:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T20:56:06","slug":"the-stunning-image-of-an-ea-18g-aircraft-causing-sparks-to-fly-on-an-aircraft-carrier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/05\/07\/the-stunning-image-of-an-ea-18g-aircraft-causing-sparks-to-fly-on-an-aircraft-carrier\/","title":{"rendered":"The stunning image of an EA-18G aircraft causing sparks to fly on an aircraft carrier"},"content":{"rendered":"

Landing an aircraft on a CATOBAR-type aircraft carrier, with launch catapults and arresting cables, is an impressive sight.<\/p>\n

EA-18G Growler, the US and Australian plane that fights in the electromagnetic spectrum<\/a><\/rel>
\nThe meaning of the different colors of the flight personnel on warships<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n

Basically, the maneuver consists of landing at high speed on a relatively narrow and short flight deck and managing to stop in less than 100 meters<\/strong>, which is the space available on the angled runway of the Nimitz and Gerald R. Ford class aircraft carriers.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

To bring the aircraft to a stop, these aircraft carriers have a series of arresting cables<\/strong> (four on Nimitz-class carriers and three on Gerald R. Ford-class carriers). The aircraft must engage one of these cables with a retractable hook located at its rear, a maneuver that is not easy and always involves risks. Above, we see an EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft from Electronic Attack Squadron 142 (VAQ-142) \"The Gray Wolves\"<\/a> about to touch down on the flight deck of the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) in a photo taken on April 12, 2026.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Here we see an EA-18G Growler from Electronic Attack Squadron 129 (VAQ-129) \"Vikings\"<\/a> landing on the USS George Washington (CVN 73) on September 24, 2024. The aircraft has already engaged one of the arresting cables but has not yet tensioned it. Its nose landing gear has not yet touched the flight deck.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Doing this at night is even more difficult, and photographing it is too.<\/strong> Here we see an F\/A-18E\/F Super Hornet fighter jet landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72)<\/a> on May 10, 2019. It's a long-exposure photo, which is why we don't see the aircraft itself, only its lights and the sparks caused by the friction of the arresting hook as it touches the flight deck.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Here we see another image of an EA-18G Growler from Electronic Attack Squadron 136 (VAQ-136) \"Gauntlets\"<\/a> landing on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) on August 11, 2021. Again, we see the trail of lights and sparks from the friction of the arresting hook, but not the aircraft itself. This is normal in a long-exposure photograph.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Sometimes you get luckier (and probably a camera with a higher ISO). This F\/A-18E Super Hornet from Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 192 \"Golden Dragons\"<\/a> was photographed landing on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson on August 11, 2021. We see more sparks and some of the aircraft's fuselage, although the image is blurry.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

A really cool photo of a nighttime landing on an aircraft carrier has been published today.<\/strong> This afternoon at 13:37 CET, the U.S. Central Command released this photo<\/a> with the following text: \"An F\/A-18 fighter jet lands aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72).<\/strong> When landing on an aircraft carrier, fighter jets utilize a tail hook to catch one of multiple arresting cables on the flight deck. This method can quickly bring an aircraft to a complete stop in about 300 feet.\"<\/em> It's actually an EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft from Electronic Attack Squadron 133 (VAQ-133) \"Wizards\"<\/strong> (it's odd that CENTCOM would make this mistake when publishing a photo). Although dark, the fuselage is clearly visible, as are the sparks from the arresting hook's friction. My congratulations to the photographer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The US Navy has a good photographer aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.<\/strong> On August 10, 2024, DVIDShub.net published this photo taken eight days earlier, showing the launch of an EA-18G Growler from VAQ-133 from one of the catapults on the angled flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln<\/a>. We can clearly see the jet stream generated by the afterburner of the Growler's engines. The aircraft always take off at full power. The photo was taken by Specialist Shepard Fosdyke-Jackson.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Another photo of the launch of an EA-18G Growler from VAQ-133 from the USS Abraham Lincoln<\/a> on September 2, 2024. In this image, the afterburner jet appears particularly intense.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

And another launch of an EA-18G Growler from VAQ-133 from the USS Abraham Lincoln<\/a>, in this case on November 10, 2024. In this image, we can even see traces of the steam propelling the catapults that launch the aircraft. A brilliant photo.<\/p>\n

---<\/p>\n

Photos: U.S. Central Command \/ U.S. Navy.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Landing an aircraft on a CATOBAR-type aircraft carrier, with launch catapults and arresting cables, is an impressive sight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[11545],"tags":[319,4314,6609,6612,12355,13226,24959,27008,27009,27010,27011,27012],"class_list":["post-64891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-navy","tag-us-navy","tag-uss-carl-vinson","tag-boeing-ea-18g-growler","tag-boeing-fa-18ef-super-hornet","tag-uss-abraham-lincoln-cvn-72","tag-uss-gerald-r-ford-cvn-78","tag-strike-fighter-squadron-vfa-192-golden-dragons","tag-electronic-attack-squadron-133-vaq-133-wizards","tag-electronic-attack-squadron-142-vaq-142-the-gray-wolves","tag-electronic-attack-squadron-129-vaq-129-vikings","tag-uss-george-washington-cvn-73","tag-electronic-attack-squadron-136-vaq-136-gauntlets"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-15 00:43:01","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64891\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}