F-35A Landing Gear Collapse is Second Time for USAF, No Injuries in C-130 Accident.
In two separate incidents, a USAF F-35A Lightning II was damaged when its nose wheel collapsed at Hill AFB in Utah on Monday and a USAF C-130 was damaged when it overran the runway at Camp Taji, Airbase in Iraq. The pilot of the F-35A was being evaluated following his escape from the aircraft and four personnel were reported to have sustained “non-life threatening injuries” in the C-130 crash.
The F-35A incident happened on Monday, June 8, 2020 at Hill AFB, Utah. The aircraft belonged to the 388th Fighter Wing. Reports indicated the pilot of the aircraft was undergoing a medical evaluation. Official Air Force sources were not specific about how the pilot exited the aircraft following the nose landing gear collapse. The 388th Fighter Wing Twitter page reported that, “The pilot egressed the aircraft and is undergoing a routine medical evaluation.” One other unconfirmed report on Twitter said the pilot had ejected.
This is the second time a USAF F-35A has had a landing gear related mishap. On August 22, 2018, an F-35A from the 58th Fighter Squadron at Eglin AFB in Florida experienced a nose wheel collapse after landing immediately following an in-flight emergency. The pilot was not injured.
The unrelated incident with the USAF C-130H transport aircraft occurred at approximately 10:10 PM local Iraqi time on June 8, Monday. The aircraft involved was from the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing based at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait. The crash occurred at Camp Taji Air Base, approximately 17 miles north of the Baghdad. According to a report from the Associated Press, there were 7 crew members and 26 passengers on the aircraft.
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Video shared on Twitter from the C-130H incident in Iraq showed that the aircraft may have crashed through a barrier at the end of a runway.
As with all military aviation incidents, both incidents will undergo an official investigation to determine the causes.
🇺🇸 USAF C130 Hercules crash in Iraq – per @OIRSpox ‘A USAF C-130 landing at Camp Taji Airbase, Iraq overshot the runway and crashed into a wall resulting in structural damage and a small fire.’
Non-life threatening injuries sustained. Enemy activity not suspected. pic.twitter.com/gPAvAckOkG
— CivMilAir ✈ (@CivMilAir) June 8, 2020
