A tailhook, arresting hook, or arrester hook is a device attached to the empennage (rear) of some military fixed-wing aircraft. The hook is used to achieve rapid deceleration during routine landings aboard aircraft carrier flight decks at sea, or during emergency landings or aborted takeoffs at properly equipped airports.
F-15 tailhook. Most USAF tactical jet aircraft have tailhooks for emergency use.
Aircraft catching the wire while landing on an aircraft carrier
F/A-18C tailhook with arresting wire
The tailhook of a T-45
Modern United States Navy carrier air operations
Modern United States Navy aircraft carrier air operations include the operation of fixed-wing and rotary aircraft on and around an aircraft carrier for performance of combat or noncombat missions. The flight operations are highly evolved, based on experiences dating back to 1922 with USSÂ Langley.
The flight deck of USS Abraham Lincoln
F-14D Tomcat launches from the flight deck of USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71)
Vice Adm. Richard W. Hunt crosses the rainbow sideboys during an arrival aboard USS Abraham Lincoln
The rainbow sideboys salute as Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus boards the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis