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A ramp strike or rampstrike is when an aircraft coming to land aboard an 
aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
impacts the rear of the carrier, also called the ramp, below the level of the flight deck.
Damage from a ramp strike to the aircraft can range from broken hook or undercarriage to total loss of airframe
The mechanical structure of an aircraft is known as the airframe. This structure is typically considered to include the fuselage, undercarriage, empennage and wings, and excludes the propulsion system.
Airframe design is a field of aerospa ...
; damage to the carrier can range from injured deck plating to a severe fire.
One of the most famous non-fatal ramp strike accidents occurred on 23 June 1951 when Cdr. George Chamberlain Duncan
George Chamberlain Duncan (11 February 1917 – 15 December 1995) was a highly decorated United States Navy officer, World War Two veteran and flying ace. Born in Tacoma, Washington he was credited with destroying 13½ enemy aircraft and was award ...
attempted to land a Grumman F9F-2 Panther on USS ''Midway'' in BuNo ''125228'', during carrier suitability tests in the Atlantic Ocean. The forward fuselage broke away and tumbled down the deck, which Duncan survived, suffering burns. Footage of this accident has been used in several films including ''Men of the Fighting Lady
''Men of the Fighting Lady'' is a 1954 American war film, war drama film directed by Andrew Marton and starring Van Johnson, Walter Pidgeon, Louis Calhern and Keenan Wynn. The screenplay was written by U.S. Navy Commander Harry A. Burns, who had ...
'', ''Midway'', and ''The Hunt for Red October
''The Hunt for Red October'' is the debut novel by American author Tom Clancy, first published on October 1, 1984, by the Naval Institute Press. It depicts Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius as he seemingly goes rogue with his country's cutt ...
''.
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Aircraft carriers Aviation risks Naval aviation {{Aviation-stub