The United States Air Force (USAF) has been plagued by a string of unprecedented fighter jet crashes at home and abroad. The service has now revealed information about two such crashes that took place one year apart: the F-16C crash in January 2024 and the F-35A crash in January 2025.
On January 28, 2025, a US Air Force F-35A Lightning II, operated by the 355th Fighter Squadron of the 354th Fighter Wing, crashed at Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska, at approximately 12:49 p.m. local time during a routine training mission.
Following the crash, a video of the F-35 spinning and plummeting vertically to the ground was shared on social media.
The pilot, who had already ejected, was seen descending in a parachute as he watched his plane plunge past him, just a few meters away. The aircraft then exploded on impact as soon as it hit the ground.
Later, Col. Paul Townsend, 354th Fighter Wing Commander, said in a press conference that the pilot was in the process of landing during a training exercise when his jet suffered an “in-flight malfunction,” forcing him to eject. He said the pilot was executing normal, standard procedures when the crash occurred. The pilot was taken to Bassett Army Hospital for evaluation and was reported to be in stable condition.
The Air Force accident investigation report is finally out, and it states that the F-35A Alaska crash was a result of a cascading chain of events caused by ice contamination in landing gear struts.
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The accident investigation board said in a report that the main landing gear struts and nose struts were unable to fully extend due to the formation of ice in the hydraulic fluid that was contaminated with water.
This eventually led to “weight on wheels” sensors telling the aircraft that it was on the ground when it was actually in midair, after which the aircraft switched into ground mode.
“However, because it was actually airborne, the [mishap aircraft] was uncontrollable,” said the report signed on July 9 that was signed by Air Force Col. Michael Lewis, the president of the accident investigation board.
According to the report, the pilot had a 50-minute conference conversation with the Lockheed Martin manufacturer and the Eielson supervisor of flying and engineers before losing control of the aircraft.
The report also highlighted that the fighter jet underwent “slightly extended ground operations at extreme cold temperatures” before taking to the skies. The temperature at the time of the crash was 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
Lewis said, “The cascading events began when the water in the nose landing gear strut froze first.”
According to the report, the aircraft’s pilot was alerted by another pilot, referred to as the “mishap wingman,” that his nose landing gear door was open. The wheel had turned 17 degrees to the left, according to the wingman, when the pilot extended the landing gear.
To realign the wheel, the pilot, flight supervisor, and Lockheed Martin decided to attempt two touch-and-go landings during the conference call.
However, the ice accumulation prevented the right rear landing gear from fully extending during the initial landing. Similarly, the left rear landing gear did not fully extend following the second landing, when all three wheels made contact with the runway, owing to ice accumulation.
The report was unable to establish with certainty when the water entered the landing struts. However, it was found that the hydraulic barrel used by the 355th Fighter Generation Squadron during their 2023 deployment to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, was probably also contaminated with water.
“The pilot successfully ejected, and emergency responders were at the scene within a minute,” it added. However, he sustained abrasions to his face and neck and a middle-spine compression fracture, the report noted.
Since the F-35 started flying nearly two decades ago, there have been about 32 aircraft crashes of the F-35. An F-35C belonging to the US Navy crashed in California just last month.
Why Did A USAF F-16 Go Down In South Korea?
On January 31, 2024, an F-16C belonging to the 8th Fighter Wing of the US 7th Air Force fell into the West Sea at Kunsan Air Base in Gunsan, which is roughly 175 kilometers south of Seoul.
The jet experienced an “in-flight emergency” over the Yellow Sea and crashed at approximately 8:41 a.m., 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs said in a release at the time.
Kunsan serves as the base for the 8th Fighter Wing (known as the Wolf Pack), overseeing the operation of around 30 F-16 aircraft.
The pilot ejected safely from the aircraft and was recovered at around 9:30 a.m. through joint rescue efforts by South Korean and US officials. Shortly after the incident, the US military informed that the pilot had escaped the tragedy and was in stable condition, as previously reported by the EurAsian Times.
A report on the crash last week states that it was caused by a hardware failure that led to an engine stall. “The Accident Investigation Board President found by a preponderance of evidence the cause of the mishap was an engine stall due to hardware failure,” the US Air Force report stated.
There was a loss of engine power to maintain attitude and airspeed, according to the investigation.
The report noted that the conclusion was based on witness testimony and audio recordings since the aircraft could not be recovered. It also highlighted how the distance to the closest airport prevented the pilot from making a smooth landing.
The incident sent alarm bells ringing in the USAF as well as in South Korea, as it was the latest in a series of three back-to-back US F-16 crashes that occurred in Korea from 2023 to 24.
Earlier, a US F-16 fighter jet reportedly plunged into the waters of the Yellow Sea near the South Korean coast on December 11, 2024, shortly after departing from Gunsan around 9 a.m., approximately 180 kilometers (110 miles) south of Seoul.
Before that, in May 2023, F-16s crashed into a farmer’s field near Osan Air Base, situated 30 miles south of the capital, on May 6. During the May incident, the F-16 crashed into the field and subsequently caught fire, leading to extensive damage to the aircraft.
Fortunately, the pilot ejected and sustained non-life-threatening injuries, as reported by the wing at that time. Following this incident, F-16 flights in South Korea were temporarily suspended.
The inquiry board attributed the December tragedy to a malfunction in the embedded GPS inertial navigation system, whereas the May disaster was attributed to a partial aircraft power outage.
As the Yonhap News Agency said, all three pilots survived, but the spate of accidents raised safety concerns over one of the US military’s most widely deployed fighter jets.
