When the front landing gear malfunctioned he had to land vertically, bringing the nose of the aircraft down to rest on a stool.
US Marine Corps Capt. William Mahoney explained that he could not even see the stool underneath his plane.
He later realised the crew of the USS Bataan had evacuated the landing deck in case he crashed.
After the pilot took off from the USS Bataan he noticed there was a problem with his landing gear. He made a low pass over the ship and it was confirmed the landing gear in the nose had not deployed.
The US Marine Corps has developed a piece of equipment for just such a problem, a massive stool which supports the fighters nose. Now all the pilot had to do was land on it.
There was no room for error for the pilot, if he missed the stool the $30 million airplane would crash into the deck. This would not only damage the airplane but it could also ignite the on board fuel.
