The U.S. Air Force released a new report this week regarding the F-35A Lightning II crash that took place at Alaska’s Eielson Air Force Base earlier this year on January 28. The report shows that the Air Force pilot held a 50-minute conference call with Lockheed Martin engineers to try to save the nearly $200 million jet prior to ejecting at the last second before the aircraft crashed on the runway.
A video shared on X, formerly Twitter, shows the F-35A Lightning II plummeting to the ground and bursting into flames on the runway of Eielson Air Force Base shortly after the Air Force pilot ejected from the aircraft.
In a Tuesday press release, the Eielson Air Force Base confirmed that Pacific Air Forces had released the Accident Investigation Board report for the “mishap” that occurred with the F-35A Lightning II in January.
“The investigation determined the aircraft’s nose landing gear did not retract properly due to hydraulic fluid contaminated with water freezing,” the press release stated. “After running multiple checklists and a conference call with engineers, the pilot’s attempts to center the nose landing gear failed.”
According to CNN, the pilot’s conference call was with five engineers from Lockheed Martin, the defense contractor that manufactures the F-35 fighter jets. The outlet noted that the conference call, which was with a flight safety engineer, a senior software engineer, and three landing gear system specialists, lasted roughly 50 minutes. CNN reported that the pilot also tried to execute a pair of “touch and go” landings to straighten the aircraft’s nose landing gear.
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“During those attempts, ice formed inside the main landing gear struts, and they did not fully extend causing all valid Weight on Wheels sensors to indicate the aircraft was on the ground,” Air Force officials stated. “The aircraft transitioned to ‘on ground’ flight control law, despite being airborne, and became uncontrollable. The pilot successfully ejected, and emergency responders were at the scene within a minute.”
According to the press release, the January F-35A Lightning II incident resulted in the Air Force pilot sustaining minor injuries from ejecting from the aircraft. Officials confirmed that the F-35 was destroyed in the crash and resulted in a $196.5 million loss.
In Tuesday’s press release, the Air Force noted that the Accident Investigation Board determined that the incident was “caused by hydraulic fluid contaminated by water that froze in the nose landing gear and main landing gear struts.”
