F-35 crash in Alaska: Pilot spent nearly an hour on call with Lockheed engineers before ejecting

Investigators determined the crash was caused by ice in the hydraulic systems of the F-35’s landing gear, preventing them from deploying correctly.

According to the Air Force report, the pilot encountered issues retracting the landing gear shortly after takeoff. When he attempted to lower them again, the nose wheel locked at an angle. Multiple troubleshooting attempts triggered the aircraft’s systems to misinterpret that it was on the ground, ultimately setting off a chain of failures.

50-Minute call with lockheed engineers

Unable to resolve the issue via standard checklists, the pilot joined a 50-minute in-flight call with five Lockheed Martin engineers, CNN reported. Participants included specialists in landing gear systems, a flight safety engineer, and a senior software engineer.

During the call, the pilot attempted two “touch-and-go” landings to try to realign the nose gear. Instead, the manoeuvres caused both main landing gears to seize and fail to extend properly. At that point, the F-35’s sensors switched into “automated ground-operation mode”, making the jet uncontrollable and forcing the pilot to eject.

A post-crash inspection revealed that around one-third of the hydraulic fluid in the nose and right main landing gear systems contained water, where there should have been none. CNN noted that the Air Force identified a similar icing issue in another F-35 at the same base just nine days later, though that aircraft managed to land safely.

Cold-weather warning issued months before

Lockheed Martin had previously warned about the risk of hydraulic system issues in extreme cold in an April 2024 maintenance bulletin, the Air Force investigation confirmed. The advisory cautioned that the problem could make it “difficult for the pilot to maintain control of the aircraft”.

At the time of the crash, the temperature in Fairbanks was recorded at -1°F.

Investigators concluded that had the engineers on the conference call referenced the 2024 bulletin, they might have recommended either a planned full-stop landing or a controlled ejection rather than the second “touch-and-go” attempt that worsened the failure.

(With inputs from CNN)