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.
#Breaking New much clearer video, courtesy Kitt Wilder, of STOL variant F35 B model landing JRB Fort Worth, and pilot ejects. Condition of pilot still unknown. @CBSDFW pic.twitter.com/BeERIeyhtO
— Doug Dunbar (@cbs11doug) December 15, 2022
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.
