Navy aircraft overshoots runway and goes into a bay in Hawaii

I'm glad everyone is OK, now I can point out that the photo in that first link looks like something I'd whip out with MS Paint, all pixelated except the sharp crack.

Question: I understand ship groundings are pretty much career-enders for their captains. Is there more nuance when it comes to plane crashes? If this was simple pilot error what's that look like for the pilot?
 
StPaulDad said:
I'm glad everyone is OK, now I can point out that the photo in that first link looks like something I'd whip out with MS Paint, all pixelated except the sharp crack.

Question: I understand ship groundings are pretty much career-enders for their captains. Is there more nuance when it comes to plane crashes? If this was simple pilot error what's that look like for the pilot
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This is Capt MJ replying. I must have hit the Quote button somehow. But it’s I.
StPaulDad said:
The military is sadly well-versed in aircraft mishap investigations. There will be an investigation team and protocol well underway. They will look at aircrew, training, mechanical, procedures, etc. If pilot error is found to be a cause, a “long green table” proceeding may be initiated. A worst-case outcome can be administrative removal of the naval aviation warfare designator, in effect, “de-winged.” I had a LCDR P-3 pilot get “stashed” on TDY orders working for me at a shore command many years ago. Dewinged. He was waiting to be assigned to an “any line officer/any LCDR” billet. Assistant Security officer for the base, etc. No longer promotable. I can’t recall what happened to him. If the Navy found a need for his warm body and he got to 20 years, he could retire as a LCDR. If you are more junior than LCDR, have completed your ADSO, are not promotable, not accepted for lateral transfer into another community, you are not given another set of orders and are separated.
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THParent said:
It looks like the entire fuselage cracked between the wing root leading edge and the cockpit. They must have smacked pretty hard.
Amazing they all walked away.

Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing, I guess.
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From the other photos that I’ve seen of the aircraft, I believe that it is not a crack, but part of an oil-containment boom that is draped over the fuselage.
 
Ah! Crappy photos. Made me think of the time Scott Crossfield whacked the X-15 on the salt flats :
 
Oof. Not great.
Glad everyone walked away!

As to what happens next--there will be an investigation. If it is just pilot error, it depends on the circumstances and what their command wants to do. I know pilots who destroyed aircraft that kept flying, and have have met others who did not. E.g. one case involved some trying circumstances, lack of realistic training, and a "decent plan" that didn't work; while the other made a quick but dumb decision then REALLY committed to a plan that wouldn't work (the junior crew member saved them both).
 
StPaulDad said:
If this was simple pilot error what's that look like for the pilot?
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Nothing like this is ever "simple pilot error". I didn't attend Aviation Safety School, but sat so many safety stand downs where it was drilled into our heads that every mishap is the result of a chain of causation, and mishaps can be avoided if that chain is broken.

Of course, final responsibility rests with the Patrol Plane Commander (pilot in command), and there is usually some element of pilot error. However, in this case there will be multiple factors to investigate .. training, weather, short , wet runway, crew decision making, etc. The P8 is relatively new (well, at least to those that were in P3's) and there will definitely be lessons learned, and the NATOPs manual will get thicker !
 
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