F-35A Suffers In-Flight Emergency, Nose Gear Collapses on Landing

The 33rd Fighter Wing says the F-35A was “parked when the front nose gear collapsed” Wednesday, but as is clear from this photograph it in fact collapsed while on the runway. (Twitter photo by NWF News)

EGLIN AFB, Fla. --- An F-35A Lightning II, assigned to the 58th Fighter Squadron, experienced a ground mishap at approximately 12:50 p.m. today on the flightline here.

The F-35A experienced an in-flight emergency and returned to base. The aircraft landed safely and parked when the front nose gear collapsed. There was one person on board.

Fire crews responded immediately and the pilot suffered no injuries as a result of the incident.

An investigation into the circumstances surrounding the mishap is underway.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The US Air Force has provided no information about the original “in-flight emergency” that caused the aircraft to land in the first place.
The NWF Daily News later posted an update on their Facebook page:
*Update: it was a hydraulic failure which caused the front landing gear to not deploy.*
Also, we are hearing that another F-35 had a bird strike with external damage on the left side and blood on the right. Please message us if you have more information.
It is not clear why the US Air Force would make such an obviously false statement, except from its habit of minimizing any and all mishaps.)

-ends-

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