A-6 Intruder Carrier Deck Ejection

The Grumman A-6 Intruder is an American twinjet all-weather attack aircraft developed and manufactured by American aircraft company Grumman Aerospace that was operated by the U.S. Navy. Developed during the late 1950s and early 1960s in response to a requirement issued by the United States Navy for an all-weather jet-powered carrier-based attack aircraft, it was designed as a successor to the Douglas A-1 Skyraider. The A-6E's precision strike mission was taken over by the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. A‑6E Intruder Bureau Number 155602 was based on the USS America (CVA-66). On 2/16/91 the aircraft lost braking power after landing on the America, resulting seconds later in the carrier deck ejections of its pilot and bombardier/navigator; respectively Lieutenant Commander Mac Williams and Lieutenant L. Fox. The website aviation-safety.net hosts a number of narratives purporting to be eyewitness accounts of this incident. With the caveats that (a) I have no reason to disbelieve them, (b) they appear to describe reality, and (c) I have not independently verified their authenticity, those narrative accounts follow, unaltered (spelling errors are in the original): "A/C did not break-up or crash into the deck upon landing. A/C took several AAA hits but was able to return to USS America. A/C was losing hydraulic fluid and after a successful trap, did not have brakes after disengaging the arresting cable. The tail hook was down and subsequently the nose-wheel steering was centered. Pilot could neither retract the tail hook, steer or stop the A/C due to the fluid loss. As the A/C approached the end of the deck, unable to stop, the pilot and BN ejected. The A/C nosed over the deck, coming to rest tail-up without going completely over. At this point the rest of the returning strike is in the pattern and low on gas. All available deck crew were summoned to push the A/C overboard to clear the deck so the rest of the strike could recover. The A/C was by all means repairable (it flew back to the ship) but time did not permit the use of the crane to move it out of the way." "I was an ASM with VAW-123 and a witness to the entire event and one who helped push it over the side. Aviation boatswain mate 3rd class Wendell F Richie here I was on the P-16 fire truck that responded and I was the one who put aff on it so it wouldn't catch on fire. My driver/abh-2 Thomas White got in the Crane/Tilly boomed down waited for the Captains decision and used the boom to push it over the side...no one used their hands to assist pushing it over... Oh and pilots that ejected got hurt when landing on non skid flight deck..." [The following narrative appears to have been copied by Aviation-Safety from "ejectionsite.com"] "Your 15 Feb 91 A-6E ejection with J. Williams as pilot description is not accurate. 'Mac' Williams is my daughter's godfather and he did not crash into the carrier. He lost all brakes taxiing out of the wires and the plane veered to the left. They ejected before it went over the side. Mac broke his leg landing on the carrier deck"