F-35B Crash on 15 December 2022

[TheGreenAnger]

A Lockheed Martin-owned F-35B Lightning II was involved in a bizarre incident as it came into land on the shared runway at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base (NAS-JRB) Fort Worth in Texas on December 15.

The incident occurred shortly before 1015hrs at the Texas base, which shares Runway 18/36 with the adjacent Air Force Plant 4 – a government-owned, contractor-operated production facility that is owned by the US Air Force (USAF) and used by Lockheed Martin to build F-35 Lightning IIs and F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters. It has been reported that the short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL)-configured F-35B involved in this incident (the serial of which has yet to be confirmed) was owned by Lockheed Martin (ahead of a possible delivery to a customer nation) and was likely returning home following a test flight.

Video footage filmed by onlookers outside the base perimeter showed the F-35B hovering above the end of the runway, with its exhaust nozzle and Lift Fan system configured for STOVL operations, which is the typical configuration employed by pilots when landing the aircraft. From a certain angle, it also looks as though the Lightning II’s weapons bay door may have also been open at the time of the incident.

As the F-35B comes into land on the shared runway, video footage shows the aircraft briefly bounce back into the air before it dives nose-first into the ground and begins to spin. The pilot safely ejected from the uncontrollable aircraft at ground-level just before it came to a stop, resting on its nose – a key indicator that its forward landing gear had collapsed. You can see a video of the incident below.

Following the incident, Lockheed Martin issued the following statement: “We are aware of the F-35B crash on the shared runway at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Forth Worth and understand that the pilot ejected successfully. Safety is our priority, and we will follow appropriate investigation protocols.”

No additional details have been provided publicly regarding this attrition case. However, the incident occurred shortly after an F-35B belonging to the US Marine Corps’ (USMC’s) Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 (VMFA-121) ‘Green Knights’ suffered a nose gear collapse while it was being towed down a taxiway at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, after the aircraft had carried out a precautionary landing. It also comes after a USAF F-35A – assigned to the 388th Fighter Wing (FW) – crashed while on approach to land on Runway 14 at Hill Air Force Base (AFB) in Utah on October 20. The pilot also ejected from the aircraft and was picked up by medical teams before being taken to a local medical centre for observation. The latter attrition event also caused a 10-acre wildfire which was extinguished by Utah firefighters. The cause for both of these incidents, along with this latest one, remains unknown.

https://www.key.aero/article/pilot-ejec ... rash-texas

[barkingmad]

BAG JESSY ! ! He was seconds from applying the parking brake?

https://nypost.com/2022/12/15/video-pil ... g-landing/

I reckon he just wanted one of those neckties or lapel pins or watever the Caterpillar Club gives out these days?

There's no moral fibre issued with the uniforms anymore.

Mind you, that one certainly marked the land;

https://www.forces.net/news/what-you-ne ... bout-f-35b

It's an awful load of dosh for an aircraft which can't cope with a firm arrival, so promptly tips the driver out of it?

[TheGreenAnger]

A Lockheed Martin F-35B crash last month has been linked to a technical fault that affects an undisclosed number of aircraft as the U.S. Navy continues a potentially monthslong investigation into the root cause of the nonfatal incident.

A Time Critical Technical Directive (TCTD) released by the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) on Dec. 29 recommends grounding a “small number” of aircraft assessed to be at higher risk, a JPO spokesman says. A return to flight order will come after procedures are developed to reduce the risk.

The JPO released the TCTD two days after suspending deliveries of the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine to the program’s assembly lines in Fort Worth and Cameri, Italy.

The JPO has not released the reasons for the TCTD and the engine delivery suspension.

But the timing of both moves are linked to an ongoing investigation by Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) of the Dec. 15 crash of an F-35B during a predelivery check flight in Fort Worth. Any technical faults identified during the course of an investigation are immediately acted upon, while NAVAIR investigators continue probing other factors in a search for the root cause.

Video footage showed the F-35B making a vertical descent to land, but the aircraft bounced forward after touching the ground. The aft section then rose upward, which caused the nose gear to drive into the runway and collapse. Now tilting on its right wingtip, the jet spun across the runway counterclockwise 180 deg., then reversed direction by about 45 deg. As the aircraft came to a stop, the pilot ejected and sustained only light injuries.

Lockheed owned the F-35B at the time of the incident.

The F-35 program also continues to suspend flight operations at the Lockheed plant in Fort Worth. The suspension forced the company to miss its delivery goal for the year by seven jets, with 141 handed over to all customers in 2022 instead of the original goal of 148-153.

https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/ ... -35b-crash