All F-35 aircraft were temporarily grounded Thursday following the crash of one of its jump-jet variants in late September in South Carolina, according to a U.S. military statement.
Flight personnel were ordered to inspect a fuel tube inside each F-35’s engine, pull out bad ones, and return aircraft with known good tubes to flight status. Inspections on the Pratt & Whitney engines are expected to be completed within the next 48 hours, the F-35 Joint Program Office said Thursday morning.
The relatively brief inspections meant that some aircraft were able to return to flight status quickly. The British Defence Ministry tweeted that its aircraft had resumed flight operations aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth. A Lockheed Martin spokesman said aircraft at Fort Worth had also return to flight.
Contrary to reports, all F-35 jets have not been grounded. We have paused some F-35 flying as a precautionary measure while we consider the findings of an ongoing enquiry. Flight trials from @HMSQnlz continue and the programme remains on schedule #F35 @thef35 pic.twitter.com/yOOpSAFxZ0
— Ministry of Defence ?? (@DefenceHQ) October 11, 2018
Maj. Rebecca Heyse, an Air Force spokeswoman, said two F-35s at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona have been cleared to fly and will be headed to Fort Worth to participate in air show this weekend. She said all 75 Air Force F-35s are being inspected and that “we don’t know the total number impacted at this time.”
The initial military statement said the inspections were prompted by the Sept. 28 crash of a Marine Corps F-35B outside Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C. The pilot ejected safely.
“The primary goal following any mishap is the prevention of future incidents,” the statement said. “We will take every measure to ensure safe operations while we deliver, sustain and modernize the F-35 for the warfighter and our defense partners.”
The F-35 comes in three variants for the Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy, and the program includes a host of international developmental partners and customers. The Sept. 28 crash was a first for the aircraft, which just that week conducted its first airstrikes for the U.S. military over Afghanistan.
“We are actively partnering with the Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program Office, our global customers and Pratt & Whitney to support the resolution of this issue and limit disruption to the fleet,” manufacturer Lockheed Martin said in a statement.
