Rather than the Goon & ELP bollocks interpretation here is an LM view:
Design blamed for F-35C tailhook issues
By Dave Majumdar - Staff writer | Jan 17, 2012
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2012/01/dn-design-blamed-for-f35c-tailhook-issues-011712/
"Lockheed Martin has traced the Navy F-35C Joint Strike Fighter’s troubles with catching a carrier’s arresting gear wires to the tailhook design.
Efforts to fix the problem are well underway, a top company official said.
"The good news is that it’s fairly straight forward and isolated to the hook itself," said Tom Burbage, Lockheed program manager for the F-35 program. "It doesn’t have secondary effects going into the rest of the airplane."
Moreover, the rest of the design of the tailhook system, which include the doors and bay that conceal the device and other ancillary hardware, is sound, Burbage said....
...The shape of the hook itself also has an effect on the probability of catching a wire, he added. All of these are being tweaked to increase the chances that the F-35C will catch a wire on a carrier’s deck.
"We’re doing a redesign of the hook to increase the probability the hook will engage the wire a high percentage of the time," Burbage said."
A lot more explanation at the URL jump above.