They had issues with the hook design early on, but it looks like it's been fixed:

I've been landing it in SF2 without issues for years, I'm not surprised.



The Jedi Master

OK3!!!!

v6,
boNes

what was the last single engine NAVY aircraft on a carrier...

Probably the A-7

That would be my guess, with the RF-8 being the other one although that went away early 80s IIRC? So like 10 years earlier. The A-7 disappeared after ODS in the early 90s.



The Jedi Master

That's right, drew a blank on those 2 birds. I thought the Navy always wanted a twin engine plane in case of engine failure over the ocean.

T-45...

...or a Hornet with an engine failure.

Funny, Pielstick!

But yes, the T-45 as a trainer, but it's not usually deployed operationally. There was also the A-4, which was very popular in its day.

Didn't the TA-4 soldier on into the 90s? Maybe with the USMC I can't remember.

I think this beastie might be single engine too:

AV-8.

^ This not a plane, this is a robot drone!

Skynet is coming

Not Navy.

My guess would be the A-4 Skyhawk?

The A-4 was pulled from US Navy service in the mid-70s, and the A-7 was in US Navy service until the early 90s, so I think it was the last single-engined jet in US Navy service.

The A-7 maybe?

The Carrier Captain I spoke with in 2010 was a former A-7 driver. To him the F-35C had a lot of unknowns that would potentially cause trouble, but the single engine wasn't one of the problems...

They made a lot of progress on reliability in the last twenty years too.

Hard to tell from the video but it seems quite a fast approach speed, 170+ knots or such? Seems to take more wire than an F-18 too.

I'm surprised it was in the Navy that late, I know it was in the ANG, but didn't think the Navy. great info!

If they'd needed it to have two engines, it would've been in the requirement.

Not one of the JAST/JSF submissions was a twin that I can recall, I know the final 3 weren't.
There are plenty of pics of Boeing's losing X-32, the flying prototypes as well as the redesign with conventional tail had it won. Here's pics of what the 3rd never built one would've looked like:
http://www.jsf.mil/gallery/gal_photo_cddr_mda-ngc-bae.htm




The Jedi Master

However, the commonly accepted view is that the Navy never wanted it, partly because of the single engine (but I think mostly because they just like to have their own stuff). The Navy is just kind of grudgingly going along with it because they have no choice.