F-35C havarerte på dekket til hangarskip i Sør Kinahavet - Defenseworld.net

 

U.S. F-35C Crashes While Landing on Supercarrier in South China Sea

• Our Bureau
• 06:15 AM, January 25, 2022
• 919

 

F-35C on flight deck of aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in the Pacific Ocean, Dec. 8, 2018.

Seven sailors were injured after an American F-35C Lightning II jet crashed on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson supercarrier in the South China Sea.

The crash is the first for an F-35C, the Navy's variant of the single-engine stealth fighter, designed for operations off aircraft carriers.  It is also the second crash of involving an F-35 this year. On January 4, a South Korean F-35A was hit by a bird, forcing the pilot to initiate emergency landing. The aircraft landed on its belly as the landing gear did not deploy.

In August 2021, Carl Vinson became the first of the service’s 11 aircraft carriers to deploy with the F-35C.

In a statement, the U.S. Pacific Fleet confirmed an F-35C assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2, had a ‘landing mishap on deck’ while USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) was conducting routine flight operations in the South China Sea on January 24.

The pilot safely ejected from the aircraft and was recovered via U.S. military helicopter. The pilot is in stable condition, the Navy said.

There were seven total sailors injured; three Sailors required MEDEVAC to a medical treatment facility in Manila, Philippines, and four were treated by on-board medical personnel. All three MEDEVACs are assessed as stable. Of the four Sailors treated by on-board medical, three have been released.

Also read: Bow of U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Submarine “Seriously” Damaged in South China Sea Collision Incident

Additional details and the cause of the inflight mishap is under investigation.

The statement did not provide information about the condition of the F-35C and whether the aircraft carrier sustained any physical damage.

According to Lockheed Martin, the F-35C "features more robust landing gear to handle carrier takeoffs and landings, folding wings to fit on a crowded flight deck, larger wings, a slightly larger payload, and a slightly longer operating range.” It was the last of the three variants to become operational, doing so in only 2019.