A ship board mishap rate well beyond the level of modern day sanity. With the advanced version weapons system it is one of the sweetest unguided bombing platforms around. A buddy of mine said the worst hit he ever had was just outside a hundred feet and that was from a loft delivery where you pitch up and huck the bomb at the target. Pretty amazing.
I thought at first your description meant your buddy’s Harrier was taking ground fire but on second reading, what I get is that he was able to lob some ordnance in a way not quite like any other fixed-wing aircraft.