A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet powers into darkening skies over Iwo Jima, Japan, during field carrier landing practice on May 15, 2026. (Joseph Ditzler/Stars and Stripes)
IWO JIMA, Japan — F/A-18 Super Hornets circled in a tight racetrack pattern above the airfield on this remote volcanic island, each jet dropping onto the runway before roaring back into the clouds in a cycle of touch-and-go landings.
The fighters’ gray silhouettes blended into the low ceiling of clouds hanging over Iwo Jima on Friday. By midafternoon, rain showers swept across the island and forced flight operations to halt.
Naval aviators with six squadrons attached to the aircraft carrier USS George Washington were in the final weekend of field carrier landing practice, a required piece of airmanship before the ship sets off on its annual patrol.
For 10 days, pilots with Carrier Air Wing 5 — based at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, near Hiroshima — exercised their muscle memory for putting their high-powered, 20-ton aircraft onto a moving, sometimes pitching platform at sea. Practice was scheduled to conclude Monday.
Iwo Jima — scene of a pitched, 36-day battle in World War II — is known today in Japan as Iwo To.
“Iwo To is a fantastic replication of the aircraft carrier,” the officer in charge of the Navy support detachment, Cmdr. Andrew Ginnetti, told reporters on the island. “Obviously, it’s remoteness from a noise abatement aspect is important; however, the ability to own an airfield for an entire day allows us to get a whole bunch more landings without having to share it with other departure and arrival traffic.”
At night, without city lights to enhance the view, the dark skies replicate conditions pilots experience at sea, Ginnetti said.
The weather, sometimes precarious during the day, is often worse at night, said Lt. Cmdr. Mike Fuller, an F-18 pilot and landing safety officer, or “paddle,” for the paddles they once held to signal approaching pilots.
A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet taxis toward the fuel pits during field carrier landing practice on Iwo Jima, Japan, May 15, 2026. (Joseph Ditzler/Stars and Stripes)
Navy landing safety officers, or LSOs, grade pilot approaches during field carrier landing practice at Iwo Jima, Japan, May 15, 2026. (Joseph Ditzler/Stars and Stripes)
An inbound F-18 Super Hornet lines up for a touch and go during field carrier landing practice at Iwo Jima, Japan, on May 15, 2026. (Joseph Ditzler/Stars and Stripes)
U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Mike Fuller, a pilot and landing safety officer, speaks with reporters during field carrier landing practice at Iwo Jima, Japan, May 15, 2026. (Joseph Ditzler/Stars and Stripes)
Aerodynamic condensation rolls off an F/A-18 Super Hornet during field carrier landing practice at Iwo Jima, Japan, May 15, 2026. (Joseph Ditzler/Stars and Stripes)
Pilots on Iwo Jima fly instrument approaches at night, Fuller, who’s logged about 400 carrier landings, told Stars and Stripes over the roar of jet engines. Flight rules allow pilots to operate solely by instruments in reduced visibility or cloud cover, under air traffic control, according to defined procedures.
As temperamental as the weather on Iwo Jima may be, conditions aboard a carrier are more challenging, Fuller said.
Veteran pilots typically fly a minimum of six sorties at Iwo Jima — three in daylight and three after dark — with seven or more touch-and-go landings. Less experienced aviators usually make additional runs.
The weather is not the only hazard on the island, where wafting steam issues constantly from the ground in places, a reminder of its volcanic origins. An eruption off the west side of the island in September 2025 meant landing practice moved to MCAS Iwakuni, where the air wing is based.
Japan is trying to accommodate a move to an airfield under improvement at Mageshima, an island just off Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands. Japanese authorities in 2024 delayed the project’s completion until 2030.
Without an alternate landing field nearby, flying at Iwo Jima can be a risky proposition, Ginnetti said. A Navy waiver allows aviators to fly without a nearby alternate airfield in case pilots must divert, Ginnetti said.
“When we take off out of Iwo To the only place we can land is Iwo To just based on the fuel we take off with,” he said.
Weather may change quickly, creating hazardous conditions.
“If that weather goes below minimums or it rains so much that the runway condition doesn’t allow us to stop normally, then it puts the pilots at significant risk of mishap or injury, or even the worst case, loss of the aircraft,” Ginnetti said.
