In mid-August it seemed frankly difficult for something more to the brand new F-35 of Lockheed Martin. After the plane stranded for a month in India, the reverse of Spain to an order (to which other countries have joined), and a second breakdown of a hunt, this time in Japan, the quota of fatalities seemed complete. Until a report has appeared that calls for the plane and its sophisticated software.
An accident and its causes. Now we know that on January 28, 2025 an F-35A of the United States Air Force, assigned to the 354th combat wing at the Eielson base (Alaska), crashed after taking off in a training mission as part of a group of four aircraft.
The official report of the Pacific Air Forces revealed that the main cause was the freezing of hydraulic fluid contaminated with water in the shock absorbers of the landing train, which prevented the complete extension of the struts and caused the weight sensors on wheels to erroneously interpret that the plane was on the ground while it was still flying.
Modo kamikaze. This false signal automatically activated the “on-aund” control mode in full flight, the aircraft becoming uncontrollable. Luckily, the pilot managed to eject and survived with minor injuries, but the plane, valued at 196.5 million dollars, was completely lost.
Emergency in flight. The problem was immediately manifested: the front train was misaligned at 17 degrees and could not retract. After radio consultations with engineers from Lockheed Martin and a flight supervisor, the pilot tried for almost an hour to reactivate the wheel by means of two “Touch-And-GO” maneuvers. However, the ice also blocked the main trains, and at the second attempt the sensors indicated that the aircraft had landed.
What happened then? That the system automatically changed to the mode of operation on land, drastically reducing the control capacity. The pilot, nicknamed in the “MP” report, managed to eject just before the hunt went into loss and chopped. The device came to rise more than 1,000 meters after the ejection, and then rush vertically, in the sequence recorded in a video that went viral.
Technical and maintenance factors. The investigation explained that the ice in the struts, added to the bad alignment of the front train block hook, damaged metal components and prevented the correct system coupling. In addition, and very important, the Wow sensors (critics in the F-35 flight control logic, known as Claws) showed vulnerability in extreme cold conditions, something that Lockheed Martin had already warned in previous maintenance bulletins. In other words, the ice “cheated” to the software.
The report emphasizes that water pollution in hydraulic fluids derived from poor management of hazardous materials and breaches in service protocols. These negligence, together with decision -making during the emergency, were considered contributing factors to the accident.
Implications and lessons. No doubt, the case has highlighted the complexity inherent in the high automation of the F-35, where a sensor failure can trigger waterfall reactions in the control software. Although nine days later another F-35A was able to land with a similar problem in the train without consequences, the Research Board stressed that, with the available information, the safest option would have been to order an immediate landing or a controlled ejection instead of risking a second attempt to maneuver.
Although the report did not issue formal recommendations for policy changes, it did highlight the need to strengthen the fulfillment of maintenance protocols, the supervision of the use of fluids and the preparation for operations in Arctic environments.
Strategic repercussions. In short, the accident, without fatalities, highlights the challenges of operating fifth generation fighters in extreme conditions such as Alaska, where temperatures close to –17 ºC can aggravate technical vulnerabilities.
Not just that. It also offers a warning to future operators in cold climates, such as Canada and Finland, which must consider the reliability of sensors and the resilience of control systems in hostile environments. Beyond the technical, the event illustrates how the sophistication of the F-35, with its dependence on algorithms and automation, can become a risk factor in unforeseen emergencies, forcing to rethink the balance between human control and software in new generation military aircrafts.
Imagen | US Air National Guard/Tech. Sgt. Adam Keele
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