Remarkable news footage on the recovery of Sea Harrier ZA176 and Sub-Lt Ian Watson after the Alraigo docked in Santa Cruz, Tenerife, June 1983.
In 2007, Britain’s National Archives released a number of Royal Navy files, and the second inquiry report was finally made public.
Sub-lieutenant Ian Watson, was a junior Royal Navy Pilot undertaking his first NATO exercise from HMS Illustrious, which was operating near the coast of Portugal.
Watson was launched in a pair of aircraft tasked with locating a French aircraft carrier under combat conditions including radio-silence and radar switched off.
After completing the search, Watson attempted to return to the Illustrious, but was unable to locate it. Running low on fuel, and with his radio having stopped working.
As his Sea Harrier began to run out of fuel, Watson turned the aircraft eastbound trying to reach commercial shipping lane, and made radar contact with a cargo ship at 50 miles. He made visual contact with a a container ship “Alraigo”.
He initially planned to eject in sight of the vessel, but noticed that its cargo provided a flat landing surface.
Watson landed the Sea Harrier on top of the shipping container, with only an estimated minute’s worth of fuel to spare. As he touched down the aircraft began to slide backwards on the wet surface.
Watson attempted to retract the landing gear to arrest the slide but this failed and the aircraft slipped backwards off the container and onto the roof of a van parked on the deck.
Four days later the Alraigo docked in Santa Cruz de Tenerife with its extra cargo load.
The aircraft was salvageable, and the ship’s crew and owners were awarded £570,000 in compensation.
Noting that Watson had completed only 75 percent of his training before he had been sent to sea, the board blamed Watson’s inexperience, and his commanders for assigning him an airplane “not fully prepared for the sortie,” a reference to radio problems.
Nonetheless, Watson was reprimanded and given a desk job.
Video of emergency landing on cargo ship Alra by Sea Harrier ZA176.
