US Navy dangerously crashing around: China Daily editorial

A video has surfaced showing the moment when a stealth fighter crashed onto the flight deck of a US aircraft carrier in the South China Sea last month. Although it has criticized the unauthorized release, the US Navy has confirmed the authenticity of the video clip, posted on social media over the weekend, which shows the F35C bursting into flames as it crashes onto the deck of the US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson on Jan 24.

The US Navy has remained tight-lipped about the incident and has yet to officially announce the cause of the crash, but the video clip seems to have provided enough pointers for military experts around the world to give an initial assessment of the incident, with the general view of analysts being that the pilot of the F35C fighter jet, which contains some of the US Navy's most advanced technology, appeared to lose control of the aircraft on its approach.

Peter Layton, for instance, a former Royal Australian Air Force officer now at the Griffith Asia Institute, told CNN that, "As the aircraft is coming down the flaps are working overtime backwards and forwards. It looks like the pilot has lost control and is suffering oscillations."

He said the crash suggested the jet was not using an automatic landing system for some reason.

Despite all this, since the incident happened in sensitive waters and seven people were injured, including the pilot who managed to evacuate the plane before impact, the US Navy still needs to reveal the exact cause of the crash for both the safety of its own military personnel and for the sake of regional security.

After all, this is not the first mishap to befall the US Navy in the South China Sea. In October, the nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Connecticut collided with an undersea mountain in the waters of the South China Sea, and the international community, China included, is still waiting for an official US account of the incident. And there have been many other incidents involving US naval vessels in the waters around China.

It does not need a military expert to figure out that the constant presence of US naval vessels in the waters plus the nature of their operations heighten the likelihood of accidents.

Not to mention that the ramping up of its military activities in the South China Sea have forced the US naval personnel to endure far more intense missions than ever before.

To prevent such a heavy loss or worse from happening again, the world's sole superpower should learn the lesson from this sorry parade of calamitous contretemps. It is high time that the US stopped its dangerous and provocative activities in China's periphery and changed its confrontational policies targeting China.

Such adventurism has only brought it more losses than gains.