Eielson Air Force Base F-35 crash

After watching the video in the OP I found this statement to be a little strange:

The crash, which occurred early Tuesday afternoon, caused significant damage to the aircraft, the Air Force said in a statement.
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kstp.com

Pilot safe after F-35 military jet suffers 'significant damage' in accident at Alaska base

A U.S. Air Force pilot is reported safe after an F-35 fighter jet crashed during a training exercise at a base in Alaska. Air Force Col. Paul Townsend commands the 354th Fighter Wing. He says the pilot experienced an “inflight malfunction” Tuesday but was able to eject from the aircraft. The...
kstp.com kstp.com

"Significant damage" seems to be a very kind statement as I'm not sure the damage will buff out. So glad the pilot survived ...
 
Perhaps it's parallax, but it looks like the jet was falling from significantly above the pilot, after he's already under canopy. Admittedly I have nothing to base this on, but that seems odd to me. And why is the gear down?
 
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That's about the weirdest thing I've ever seen.
 
kyleb said:
That's about the weirdest thing I've ever seen.
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That was my first thought too, never seen an aircraft falling like that.

Curious what model of F-35, particular if the VTOL B model. Those have had their share of control incidents.
 
It is weird and if you look closely it almost looks fake. Dont deny there was an accident up there put the plane looks sketchy compared to stuff closer???
 
Should be an A model. Don't think the Marines are up there on TDY right now.
 
I hope that we eventually get to know why this thing was doing the falling leaf. It doesn't appear to be the Marine variant, and if it was, it wasn't configured in any case.
 
To crash near the runway, it was on departure or returning to land. Yes I realize more aggressive maneuvering than the average GA takeoff or landing, but not the levels out in the MOA. Yes, great the pilot got out, never have cared for funerals.
 
Daleandee said:
"Significant damage" seems to be a very kind statement as I'm not sure the damage will buff out. So glad the pilot survived ...
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They can't say that it was "insignificant" damage. But surely there is a better way of saying “damaged beyond recognition as an artifact of industrial society, much less a fighter jet, and then it also exploded.”
 
iamtheari said:
surely there is a better way of saying “damaged beyond recognition as an artifact of industrial society, much less a fighter jet, and then it also exploded.”
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I'm good with this description. Really hammers it home
 
iamtheari said:
They can't say that it was "insignificant" damage. But surely there is a better way of saying “damaged beyond recognition as an artifact of industrial society, much less a fighter jet, and then it also exploded.”
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The form probably had a drop down menu of options, "No Damage", "Minor Damage", "Significant Damage". Need to add, "Totally Destroyed".

FUBAR is probably not PC enough.
 
iamtheari said:
They can't say that it was "insignificant" damage. But surely there is a better way of saying “damaged beyond recognition as an artifact of industrial society, much less a fighter jet, and then it also exploded.”
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Rapid Unplanned Disassembly.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Lindberg said:
Perhaps it's parallax, but it looks like the jet was falling from significantly above the pilot, after he's already under canopy. Admittedly I have nothing to base this on, but that seems odd to me. And why is the gear down?
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Speculation of course, but I would guess this was during an approach and the pilot initiated a zoom climb to bleed off speed before punching out. So the parachute deploys while the aircraft is still climbing until it stalls out. Wonder if it was going haywire in the cockpit with the controls and the pilot punched out of it.
 
Could the plane have been inverted when he punched out?
 
brien23 said:
Not the first or the last at $80,000,000. each
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Fly expensive toys. Break expensive toys. Hopefully not very frequently, but lose an engine, the brain box, or a few critical sensors, and you're punching out. Most of the stuff we fly (from J-3's to A-380's) will at least keep the pointy end forward if something goes awry.
 
Did the Arctic Circle move south? Eielson isn’t in the Arctic.
 
Pilot was also a former Thunderbird…and plenty of experience…it was a long event with multiple landing attempts…I’ve seen -27 a few miles away at my kids house…plenty cold there.
 
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Ed Haywood said:
News story out. Gear would not come down. Pilot spent 50 minutes on phone call with Boeing engineers before ejecting. Ice in hydraulic lines.
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The nail in the coffin was reversion to ground mode while still in flight, resulting in loss of control. And I think you mean Lockheed Martin engineers. ;)

Nauga,
on the landline
 
Someone's going to lose their job and maybe some rank over this one...Letting barrels of hydraulic fluid get contaminated with that much water and them getting to the point of use.
 
Isn’t it that cold at altitude always? Of course under 3k lbs of pressure.

Just simple icing because Alaska doesn’t immediately stand out to me.

Seems it would more likely manifest on deck when cold soaked.

What ever, a planned ejection like that was something I never wanted to face. In fact, I didn’t eject once BECAUSE it was scary….
 
Ice in hydraulic lines? Proven how? I’ve never heard of anyone in Alaska having a failure from ice in a hydraulic line in any kind of equipment.

Why wouldn’t they have done a gear up landing and salvaged most of the plane?
 
The plane decided it was on the ground and the computer decided to quit flying it while they were still troubleshooting…he had already done two main gear only touch and go’s when it decided to lock up…
 
It appears that the hydraulic system was hand serviced and the source of the fluid in the hand cart was from a drum that was found to be 40% water.... Another article stated that several days prior, another aircraft had a similar issue, but did not do a touch and go, and turned it into a full stop landing. Hydraulics were also found to be heavily contaminated with water.

Fly by wire aircraft undergo a control gains change when the weight on wheels switches make or break contact. In this case, they didn't break contact after the second takeoff.
 
Another article:
www.airandspaceforces.com

Contaminated Hydraulic Fluid Led to Fiery F-35 Crash in Alaska

Dirty hydraulic fluid and cold weather led to the loss of an Air Force F-35 stealth fighter at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, this winter.
www.airandspaceforces.com www.airandspaceforces.com

Maybe "Ground mode" didn't shut Air India 171's engines down but it looks like it did the deed here.
 
While not an F35, water in the hydraulics plagued me for quite some time in a 421C. It took forever to find that there was water in the actuators which was freezing and thawing at altitude.
 
Tools said:
What ever, a planned ejection like that was something I never wanted to face. In fact, I didn’t eject once BECAUSE it was scary….
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A controlled ejection was discussed but they elected to keep troubleshooting. Once the airplane reverted to ground mode it became an uncontrolled ejection with no better option.

Nauga,
who never wanted to went
 
For those, perhaps in the know, since it's a VTOL, would a gear up landing have been all that exciting? Why the touching goes, and not just touch and see what happens?
 
nauga said:
The nail in the coffin was reversion to ground mode while still in flight, resulting in loss of control. And I think you mean Lockheed Martin engineers. ;)

Nauga,
on the landline
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Usually, you have to be in an Airbus to get behavior like that :)
 
It was an A model, not a B. With one or more WoW switches not breaking contact, it was over and the pilot was pretty much along for the ride at that point.
 
Lindberg said:
For those, perhaps in the know, since it's a VTOL, would a gear up landing have been all that exciting? Why the touching goes, and not just touch and see what happens?
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It was an F-35A, which has no V/STOVL capability. I guess you could say it did a vertical landing in spite of that, but it was a pretty firm touchdown.

Nauga,
planted
 
Just an early skynet test. Nothing to see here.
 
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