F-35 pilot held nearly hour-long conference call mid-air to fix fighter jet before it crashed
An F-35 pilot was forced to eject after spending nearly an hour mid-flight on a conference call with engineers trying to fix a malfunctioning landing gear, according to a crash investigation report obtained by CNN.
The $200 million fighter jet crashed and burst into flames on January 28 at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. Harrowing footage posted online shows the jet spiraling to the ground while the pilot parachutes safely onto the runway.
The report revealed that ice in the hydraulic lines of the nose and main landing gears prevented proper deployment, likely caused by frigid temperatures—around -1°F at the time. After takeoff, the pilot struggled to retract the landing gear. When he attempted to lower it again, the nose gear locked at an angle.
Efforts to troubleshoot the issue included a 50-minute call with five Lockheed Martin engineers while the aircraft circled near the base. The pilot also attempted two “touch-and-go” landings to realign the gear, but those efforts only worsened the problem, completely freezing the landing gear.
Eventually, the jet’s systems falsely indicated it was already on the ground, causing it to behave erratically. The aircraft became uncontrollable, and the pilot had to eject.
A post-crash inspection found that one-third of the hydraulic fluid in the nose and right main landing gear systems was water, which led to the icing. A similar hydraulic icing issue occurred at the same base nine days later, though that aircraft landed safely.
Investigators blamed the crash on a combination of pilot decision-making during the in-flight troubleshooting and inadequate oversight of hazardous materials, such as water contamination in hydraulic systems.
Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the F-35, has faced criticism for the program’s high costs and production issues. The per-unit cost has dropped from about $135.8 million in 2021 to $81 million in 2024, but the program is still projected to cost over $2 trillion through 2088.
In November, Elon Musk, then head of the Department of Government Efficiency, criticized the F-35 program, calling the aircraft “an expensive & complex jack of all trades, master of none,” and argued that manned fighter jets are becoming obsolete in the drone era.
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