More than three-and-a-half years after US Air Force (USAF) Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor 07-4146 ‘AK’ was extensively damaged in a fiery crash, the aircraft is well on its way to being made airworthy again.
As previously reported, the Raptor, operated by the 3rd Wing/90th Fighter Squadron ‘Pair o Dice’ at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson (JBER), Alaska, experienced a port engine flameout on take-off from Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada, on April 13, 2018. Unfortunately, the pilot had already retracted the undercarriage before realising he had lost an engine, following which the Raptor dropped back onto the runway at a fairly high speed and slid along the tarmac for approximately 6,514ft before coming to rest. The Raptor, which had been detached to Fallon from its home base to provide a dissimilar adversary in support the US Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor (TOPGUN) programme, was substantially damaged, although the pilot escaped injury.
On December 20, 2021, a press release issued by Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson revealed that a major rebuild of the aircraft had been underway since shortly after the accident. Initially, a team from the 3rd Wing at JBER travelled down to Fallon to dismantle the jet, load it into a carg…
