This Gif of an F-35 struggling to take fuel from a C-130 helps me understand the difficulty that the F/A-18 might have had...

Ok.  This Gif helps clear up a bit of my confusion about how the F/A-18 involved in that mishap could have happened.  I ASSUMED that there was little or no difficulty in performing this maneuver in a fixed wing.  Obviously I was wrong.

The F-35 is said to be the easiest military airplane to fly and if it's being tossed around like a bottle cap in high seas then what must it be like to fly the Marine Corps' ancient F-18's?

I stand corrected.

What was once beyond my understanding now becomes obvious (you don't know what you don't know till you know that you don't know).

I wonder if any work is being done to improve this somehow?

Bigger basket...something.  But this is unacceptable and it's a wonder we haven't seen more accidents.