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Pilot Ejects From $100M F-35B Stealth Fighter Jet As It Crashes Nose-Down- What Happened?
A pilot was forced to eject from an F-35B Lightning II fighter jet during a crash landing at the a naval airbase in Texas on Thursday morning.
The $100 million jet crashed at the Fort Worth Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base as it touched down on the runway. The pilot’s state is still a mystery.
It wasn’t the first time an F-35B has crashed recently; the aircraft takes off and landings vertically, much like a helicopter.
A jet’s forward landing gear disintegrated just this month as it was being carried across a tarmac in Japan, and a jet careened off an aircraft carrier’s flight deck last year and sank into the Mediterranean.
The crash happened at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth, as the $100million jet touched down on the tarmac
The latest incident was not the first time an F-35B – which takes off and lands vertically, much like a helicopter – has crashed in recent memory
The F-35B was seen descending vertically to the runway in Fort Worth before gently touching down.
Then, it appeared as though the jet might bounce a few feet back into the air and move forward before abruptly plunging forward and crashing nose-first into the ground.
In a cloud of dust and smoke, the airplane flipped forward on its nose and then turned 180 degrees. Then, as it continued to move forward, it spun around and dropped upright onto its landing gear.
The pilot then leaped out of the aircraft, their parachute expanding in the air as they descended to the ground.
Footage from Fort Worth showed the F-35B descending vertically from the sky to the runway and gently touching down
The plane appeared to bounce a few feet back into the air and travel forward, before suddenly pitching forward, nose first into the ground
The plans skidded forward in a cloud of smoke and dust on the tarmac in Fort Worth
The jet skidded over the runway in Texas, and the pilot ejected.
Lockheed Martin, a manufacturer of armaments, acknowledged the disaster in a statement.
The F-35B crashed on a shared runway at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth, and the pilot successfully ejected, according to the business.
Safety is our first priority, and the proper investigation protocol will be followed.
The jet is built by Lockheed Martin in a facility that has a runway shared with a Navy base.
Read Also:Â Three survivors accounted for after helicopter crash in Gulf of Mexico
Last February US Navy spokesperson confirmed that the photo above was a real picture of an F-35B which had crash landed in the South China Sea
The pilot of the F-35C deployed his landing hook to catch the deck and stop his jet, but something went wrong and he ejected and skidded over the side
The innovative jet was first introduced in 2015 and has been plagued with problems in recent years.
Just this past summer the Air Force grounded 300 of its F-35Bs – which had cost about $23billion collectively – because of faulty ejection systems.
At issue were the explosive cartridges inside F-35 ejection seats that blow the pilot clear of the aircraft in an emergency.
‘Out of an abundance of caution, [Air Combat Command] ACC units will execute a stand-down on July 29 to expedite the inspection process,’ an ACC spokesman told DailyMail.com at the time.
And in the South China Sea in February of this year, a Lightning II crashed while trying to land aboard the USS Carl Vinson.
When the jet approached the ship, a video clip that had been shared on social media at the moment suddenly filled the frame with smoke and abruptly ended with an ominous engine sound.
Later pictures showed the jet sinking into the water and becoming partially submerged.
Six sailors from the Vinson were also reported to have been hurt after the pilot ejected from the aircraft during the collision.
US Navy Fort Worth crash was TWELFTH time $100m jets have malfunctioned in past eight years
June 23, 2014:Â A USAF F-35A had a catastrophic engine fire caused by a fractured rotor which saw it turn into a blaze as it took off in Florida.
October 27, 2016: A US Marine Corp F-35B set alight mid-flight due to a fire in its weapons bay before the pilot landed safely in Beaufort, South Carolina.
September 28, 2018: All operational F-35s were grounded while a probe was launched into why a fuel tube failed in flight after a horror crash at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina.
April 9, 2019:Â Parts of the tail of a Japanese F-35 were found in the sea around 85 miles east of Misawa during a training mission.
May 19. 2020: This F-35 crash on landing was caused by a tired, distracted pilot and unresponsive tail glitch.
September 20, 2020: AÂ F-35 stealth fighter jet fell out of the sky and exploded on the ground after hitting a KC-130J tanker in a mid-air collision near the Salton Sea in Imperial County, California.
September 20, 2020: A F-35 stealth fighter jet fell out of the sky and exploded on the ground after hitting a KC-130J tanker in a mid-air collision near the Salton Sea in Imperial County, California
November 17, 2021:Â An RAF F-35B toppled into the Mediterranean Sea after the pilot tried to abort take-off from HMS Queen Elizabeth. Early reports suggested its engine sucked in an are inlet cover.
January 4, 2022:Â South Korea grounded its F-35s after an F-35A suffered an in-air malfunction. Its pilot made an emergency belly landing when its landing gear failed to extend.
February 2, 2022: An F-35B crashes into the South China Sea while attempting to land on the USS Carl Vinson, and the plane sinks to the sea floor.
July, 2022: Three-hundred US Air Force F-35bs – worth about $78billion – to investigate potentially faulty ejection systems
December 1, 2022: An F-35B’s forward landing gear suddenly breaks off while the jet is being taxied across the tarmac at the Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan
December 15, 2022: A pilot was forced to eject when an F-35B suddenly pitched forward onto its nose during a vertical landing at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth.
