According to Military.com, the details of an F-35 fighter jet crash in early 2023 have been revealed, and the entire process was extremely absurd.

The incident occurred on January 28 this year, when an F-35A of the U.S. Air Force crashed at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, and the entire accident process was described as a historic mess.

At that time, the pilot encountered a landing gear failure in the air, making it impossible to land. Then he did something unusual: he immediately contacted a Lockheed Martin engineer, held a phone conference in the air, and tried to get the engineer to teach him how to land on the spot.

According to the accident investigation report, this call lasted for a full 50 minutes. The pilot circled in the air while communicating with the ground technical team by phone, and the engineers remotely taught him how to land safely.

However, due to hydraulic oil being contaminated and frozen with water, the landing gear struts could not fully extend, causing the sensors to incorrectly determine that the aircraft was already on the ground. As a result, the flight control system switched to "ground mode," leading to the aircraft losing control in the air. The pilot had to eject from high altitude, and the aircraft crashed and exploded near the runway, resulting in the loss of an $100 million stealth fighter.

Crash site

According to the detailed report by the investigation committee, the fault had already manifested after takeoff.

The pilot found that the nose landing gear could not return to its normal position, locking at an angle of about 17 degrees.

After multiple attempts to operate the onboard systems without improvement, the pilot decided to activate the airborne emergency plan, establishing a multi-party call with the Eielson base tower, Lockheed Martin engineers, and aviation safety officials.

The engineering team proposed trying to reset the sensors by performing a touch-and-go maneuver, allowing the flight control system to recognize the real status.

The pilot followed the instructions and performed two touch-and-go maneuvers, but the results were different from what the engineers expected: after the second touch-and-go, all sensor feedback indicated that the aircraft had landed, and the flight control logic automatically switched to ground control mode, although the plane was still in the air.

Spending 50 minutes on the phone still didn't clarify anything, the system mode was completely out of sync with the real situation, and the aircraft lost control instantly at high altitude. The pilot chose to give up, prioritizing his life, and pulled the ejection handle to escape.

F35 is very delicate

After the investigation, the cause of the accident was clarified.

The report pointed out that the contamination and freezing of hydraulic oil with water was the starting point of the entire accident chain.

Due to long-term negligence in hazardous material management by the 355th Fighter Squadron at Eielson Base, hydraulic oil barrels had been exposed to high humidity and harsh weather conditions during multiple deployment missions, causing moisture to penetrate the hydraulic system.

The investigation found that maintenance records were chaotic, storage locations of oil drums were disorganized, and procedures were not strictly supervised.

The report concluded that this was an avoidable accident, a combination of technical flaws and management negligence.

Colonel Lewis, chairman of the Air Force investigation committee, pointed out that if the engineering team had considered the risk of sensor misjudgment earlier during the phone conference or advised the pilot to perform a controlled forced landing or eject earlier instead of taking the risk of a second touch-and-go, they might have been able to salvage the aircraft.

Lockheed Martin also couldn't figure it out

The F-35 is one of the most expensive and complex stealth fighters in the United States, known as the pinnacle of current technology.

However, various types of crashes and breakdowns have repeatedly exposed the fragility of the F-35.

This incident once again shook public confidence in the F-35 program.

The F-35 itself uses a highly integrated design, with flight control, sensors, and weapon systems interdependent. Once any part fails, the entire aircraft can easily fall into a chain reaction, which was clearly demonstrated in this incident.

Just the presence of moisture in the hydraulic oil led to a series of absurd chain reactions, from the landing gear freezing, to weight sensors misjudging, and finally the flight control logic crashing, with no redundancy at all.

In addition, the crew and the engineering team lacked a plan for crisis handling, and there was no quick judgment and decisive decision-making process, leading to the aircraft flying in the air for 50 minutes before ultimately crashing.

This means that neither those who build the planes nor those who fly them can fully understand the F-35's condition.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7543849877341323816/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author. Please express your opinion by clicking the [up/down] buttons below.