The pilots interviewed afterwards:



As for what happened, H/T to Ohforfoxache from LiveLeak for the following:

What went wrong
The one-inch wire ropes laid out across a carrier's flight deck — known as cross deck pendants — are programmed to release a set amount of cable as the aircraft's tail hook drags them behind the plane, to absorb the force of a landing before spooling back up.
Below deck, a purchase cable is attached to each side of the deck pendant to absorb the force of the landing plane, controlled by an arresting gear engine.
On March 18, the engine was miscalibrated and couldn't absorb the energy caused by the landing, which transferred the load to the deck pendant, snapping the left side and sending it whipping across the flight deck.

https://www.navytimes.com/story/military/2016/07/14/horrific-cable-mishap-caused-maintanence-errors-navy/87032244/

That's why planes relying on the cable to stop them are supposed to increase speed as they land (so they can get airborne again if the cable doesn't stop them).

I thought they had about 4 cables to hit, and they try to hit the 2nd or 3rd?

So yeah, I just read the article linked above. I don't get it. They call it a "textbook landing", but then say the pilot hit the 4th and final cable.

To be fair, this landing probably will be in textbooks

Whip-smart pilot skills and top-notch training came into play here. Bummer about the injured guys, but to the pilot, I say "Nice save, brah!"

It's textbook in that the pilot wasn't in error in any way. He landed, the hook grabbed an arrestor cable, he set the throttles correctly, but then there was a mechanical breakage. The fact he got back into the air again and didn't have to ditch proves the "textbookedness" of the situation.

Pilots were really lucky on many accounts:
- Fuel was most likely on the low side being that it was the end of their mission meaning that the airframe was able to recover a bit better than if it was loaded with fuel.
- That he got his gear up fast. This in my mind was key, it reduced drag and let the the plane get off the deck much faster than if they were still out.
- Good training and lighting fast mental and physical reflexes. They recognized the situation immediately and went into recovery mode. This is in part why you don't post 40 year olds landing on ocean platforms... its a young mans game.