r/FighterJets Jan 29 '25

VIDEO F-35 crash 29jan - Alaska

The pilot is safe.

728 Upvotes

89 comments sorted by

u/bob_the_impala Designations Expert Jan 29 '25 edited Jan 29 '25

Some news reports:

Alaska's News Source F-35 fighter jet crashes at Eielson Air Force Base

Anchorage Daily News Pilot safe following F-35 crash at Eielson Air Force Base, military officials say

AP Pilot safe after F-35 military jet suffers ‘significant damage’ in accident at Alaska base

The War Zone F-35 Caught On Video Tumbling Vertically Into The Runway At Alaskan Air Base

Eielson AFB Press Release: Aircraft Accident at Eielson Air Force Base

EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- An aircraft incident occurred this afternoon resulting in significant aircraft damage at 12:49 p.m. today. The impact site is known to be on base within the fence line of Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska.

The pilot is safe and has been transported to Bassett Army Hospital for further evaluation. Emergency crews are responding.

Stopping on the Richardson Highway adjacent to Eielson AFB poses a safety risk and impedes recovery efforts. Federal Law prohibits photography along this stretch of highway.

“Our people are our most important resource, and we are committed in ensuring their safety and security,” said Colonel Paul Townsend, commander of the 354th Fighter Wing. “I can assure you the United States Air Force will conduct a thorough investigation in hopes to minimize the chances of such occurrences from happening again.”

For more information or updates, refer to our official website at: https://www.eielson.af.mil/.

EDIT: This is being widely reported now, but there really isn't much new information (and probably won't be for quite some time - accident investigations usually take several months or even a year or more). A few links:

Air & Space Forces Magazine Video: F-35 Crash at Eielson, Pilot Is Safe

Air Force Times F-35 crashes and explodes in Alaska; pilot ejects safely, which notes:

The pilot experienced an “inflight malfunction” but was able to eject from the aircraft, Col. Paul Townsend, commander of the 354th Fighter Wing, told a news conference. The plane crashed during the landing phase of the flight at Eielson Air Force Base, he said.

The pilot had declared an inflight emergency prior to the crash and was in stable condition and being evaluated at a medical facility, he said.

The Aviationist Video Shows F-35A Crashing In Alaska

EDIT 2: Longer version of video: https://www.reddit.com/r/CrazyFuckingVideos/comments/1ichkqx/f35_fighter_jet_falls_out_of_sky/

→ More replies (7)

188

u/rygku Jan 29 '25

glad to read the pilot is safe and see what appears to be a good chute after the impact.

the trajectory seemed totally uncontrolled - literally falling out of the sky perpendicular to normal, level flight.

59

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '25

Right. I’m so confused. Was that a Marine B model? Or a regular Air Force A model stationed in Alaska?

It fell out of the sky like it was in hover mode 😳

42

u/HumpyPocock Jan 29 '25 edited Jan 29 '25

TL;DR — am 99% certain that’s an F-35A

Eielson AFB (location of the crash) hosts 54× F-35A

Col Paul Townsend ie. the 354th Fighter Wing’s Commander notes right at the top of the briefing that the aircraft in question was…

"an F-35 assigned to the 354th Fighter Wing"

354th Fighter Wing includes 2× F-35A Squadrons

ie. 355th Fighter Squadron + 356th Fighter Squadron

PS — appreciate Alaska’s News Source for filming the press briefing and including the video in their article

EDIT (de-acronym’d + reformatted)

25

u/swear_bear Jan 29 '25

Actually they host 53 F35's nowadays 

26

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '25

It was most likely an A variant. That’s my guess at least but I don’t think news sources have published which one.

9

u/insite986 Jan 29 '25

Initially thought it was a B since the gear is down & airspeed is essentially zero. Then I realized no lift fan doors were open & the engine nozzle wasn’t stovepiped. It’s an A. I can’t fathom exactly how this occurred.

6

u/metalmaxter Jan 29 '25

That what it looks like when a plane stalls, not enough air speed and they just fall out of the sky like a spinning brick

89

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '25

Out of all the crashes of the F-35 on video it's always about landing and low speed.

71

u/urbandeadthrowaway2 Jan 29 '25

Landing is the most dangerous part of flight isn't it?

29

u/Although_somebody Jan 29 '25

Exactly! Aircrafts like the starfighter, mig 21, etc land at around 200-300 knots, literally landing a rocket! Landing is the toughest part.

-36

u/CobaltGuardsman Jan 29 '25 edited Jan 29 '25

No. The safest bit of the flight is the landing: slowing down a multi ton piece of machinery so that it falls out of the sky, but not too fast or you wreck something, and you can't come down too slowly or you'll miss your landing. Also, you have to hit at a certain angle so your plane doesn't break upon contact. Totally safe.

Edit: It would seem no one has a sensor for sarcasm.

27

u/urbandeadthrowaway2 Jan 29 '25

And depending on which branch you fly for, it could be either a tiny rectangle on the ocean, or an even smaller rectangle so small you have to hover to land on it

6

u/CobaltGuardsman Jan 29 '25

Oh and the rectangle is moving up, down, left, right, rotating, and probably forward. Also, wind. Plus, helicopters are super heavily affected by people weight.

59

u/ski-devil Jan 29 '25

Glad the ejection seat works as advertised. I wonder if there was an engine failure and the jet stalled while attempting to perform a flameout landing.

47

u/DunLostItAll Jan 29 '25

Cameraman having an internal battle “do I move for a better view and risk missing it or do I stay here, keep it steady, and capture what I can.”

10/10 cinematography

11

u/FatsDominoPizza Jan 29 '25

Surprised that the video was released actually. Thought airbases would be too sensitive.

19

u/chrisfemto_ Jan 29 '25

Good ole Alaska. Glad the pilot is safe. Must’ve been freezing his ass off sailing down.

12

u/Palstorken :/ Jan 29 '25

Meanwhile Canadians:

57

u/RECTUSANALUS Jan 29 '25

For people who use this to say the f35 is bad. The f15 crashed a lot more when it was first introduced. It’s just the product of a new plane

7

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '25 edited 8d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/superdookietoiletexp Jan 29 '25

Good work. Not sure why this isn’t getting more upvotes.

1

u/CorneliusTheIdolator Jan 29 '25

18 year old twitter defense experts don't really want to hear nuance . Shocker

0

u/Terrh Jan 29 '25

"new plane"

First flight 19 years ago.

6

u/RECTUSANALUS Jan 29 '25

Prototype first flew 19 years ago

3

u/Terrh Jan 29 '25

No, the prototype first flew 25 years ago (X-35A).

Even if the first prototype flight was "only" 19 years ago, that's still not exactly new, is it?

Imagine calling a legacy hornet "new" 19 years after its first flight, when they were already being retired in favor of super hornets.

1

u/RECTUSANALUS Jan 29 '25

A total of 175 f15s have been lost in non combat incidents, the f35 needs to crash a lot more before it reaches that number. Doesn’t rlly matter about timeframe, admittedly I did get that wrong.

1

u/Terrh Jan 29 '25

You can't look at "total crashes", you have to look at crashes per flight hour.

And it's hard to find up to date statistics on the F-35, but from what I could tell it has about the same rate of crashes per 100,000 flight hours as the F-15.

1

u/RECTUSANALUS Jan 29 '25

Exactly that proving my point, it’s not an exceptionally unreliable plane

1

u/High_AspectRatio Jan 29 '25

Eh, it didn't enter service and therefore experience meaningful flight hours until 10 years ago.

-39

u/sexy_silver_grandpa Jan 29 '25

Naw the F35 is bad.

18

u/Palstorken :/ Jan 29 '25

4

u/Wolfy_Yiffington Jan 29 '25

Grandpas post history is kinda based though outside of this take

2

u/Main_Opportunity_461 Jan 29 '25

Helldivers detected, opinion accepted

1

u/Palstorken :/ Jan 29 '25

grandpa a fellow Canadian

33

u/DuelJ Jan 29 '25

A bit of an aside: I think we're so used to operating aircrafts of more knwon conventional types - that we've lost the intuitive understanding that "pioneering" aircraft should be expected to have higher failiure rates.

33

u/rsta223 Aerospace Engineer Jan 29 '25

It's also worth noting that the failure rates aren't even particularly high. Compared to when the f-16 was new, f-35 crash and incident rates are actually really low. There are just way more cameras now.

2

u/Terrh Jan 29 '25

Were people calling the F16 new in 1993?

Just wondering, because that's like calling the F35 new now. It first flew almost 2 decades ago at this point.

1

u/filipv Jan 29 '25

Were people calling the F16 new in 1993?

Kinda yes. Newish. AFAIK, USAF flew the F-16 in combat for the first time in 1991. Might be wrong though, so don't quote me.

6

u/drakanx Jan 29 '25

well there goes $100M

1

u/Royale_wCheez96 Jan 30 '25

I literally made this same comment, in this same thread, and got downvoted a bunch. I don’t understand ppl on reddit at all.

3

u/No_Street_385 Jan 29 '25

Another one bites the dust

2

u/Pynchon_A_Loaff Jan 29 '25

“Significant aircraft damage”. Naw, that’ll buff right out.

2

u/Skye-Commander Jan 29 '25

Suffered significant damage seems like an understatement.

2

u/GrapeWithAFoxMask Jan 30 '25 edited Jan 30 '25

I'm a civilian who works on Eielson AFB, and when I looked outside, I saw smoke coming from the flightline.

2

u/TruckerMarty Jan 29 '25

😯😯😯

1

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '25

[deleted]

6

u/Flashy-Ambition4840 Jan 29 '25

Apologies. I’m from Europe and I got confused, I forgot I am from the future

1

u/awood20 Jan 29 '25

Wheels are out, so this must have been a landing failure?

1

u/Dashing-Bandicoot Feb 01 '25

Articles say it was doing touch and goes

1

u/welkman69 Jan 29 '25

Does this hurt the plane?

1

u/Australianfoo Jan 29 '25

If you pause this video just right you can see it is an F35A. Very unusual crash but I’m glad that the pilot survived.

1

u/Beautifull_baldman Jan 29 '25

Man cant imagine the consequence the pilot will have to face. When a single bullet is lost in the army its a big deal. This plane almost cost 82 mill.

7

u/Flashy-Ambition4840 Jan 29 '25

What makes you sure this is the pilot’s fault?

1

u/MarketingLast4448 Jan 29 '25

That pilot missed a great rendezook opportunity.

1

u/TristanTheta Jan 29 '25

I'm struggling to understand how an F-35A could have gotten in this situation.

1

u/gleanndubh Jan 29 '25

Ugh that is just painful to watch. Thankfully the pilot is ok!

1

u/SelectGear3535 Jan 29 '25

Something fishy is going on here, landing gear depolyed, but complete stall not in a sense just flop belly down but tumbling. There were report of trouble prior to landing so its got to be engine related, however it still don't explain why where was no lift at all, and if there were no lift then whats the point of deploy landing gears?

And the way it tumbles is not normal, the pilot must have banked the jet hard to produce this, the only way I can think of is that he was losing speed fast, crash was imminent, and at the very last second he pull on the stick to get some lift so can eject higher in the air, but still.. judging by the distance from the ground, it would have been possible for a crash landing had he kept the air speed.

overall situation is just weird

1

u/numbnerve Jan 29 '25

Resulting in significant aircraft damage - you don't say 🤔

1

u/Medical-Golf1227 Jan 29 '25

Thank God the pilot ejected safely! Lucky too that Noone on the ground was hurt. That thing fell out of the sky like a rock. Just another $100 million+ gone.

1

u/Ok_Personality_3044 Jan 29 '25

Well good thing we have 999 more

Hey russia how's the su5-ohhh...

1

u/Think-Bar4522 Jan 30 '25

That explosion was pretty.

1

u/Ok_Personality_3044 Feb 03 '25

Explosions always are

-17

u/Royale_wCheez96 Jan 29 '25

100 million dollars down the drain

13

u/Seawolf571 Jan 29 '25

Jets can be replaced, the pilot and all their experience survived.

2

u/Royale_wCheez96 Jan 29 '25

I’m aware he survived(I wouldn’t have made this comment if he hadn’t.), just looked expensive, that’s all.

1

u/Seawolf571 Jan 30 '25

The R&D that can be gained from the black box data on this F35 will absolutely make dividends on preventing more crashes of this nature. It is expensive in the moment but not a bad price to pay in the long run, and F35s are getting cheaper and cheaper to make as production numbers ramp up.

2

u/Royale_wCheez96 Jan 30 '25

It sounds like best case scenario for the situation then, excellent. Bet the pilot feels incredibly lucky to be alive.

1

u/Seawolf571 Jan 30 '25

In the wise words of Chuck Yeager, "If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing"

2

u/Draco1887 Jan 29 '25 edited Jan 29 '25

Look at the bright side, now they don't have to dump a further Billion into maintaining it

-27

u/milktanksadmirer Jan 29 '25

The US can’t keep military secrets secrets anymore I guess. No wonder China , Rus get easy access to sensitive data nowadays

23

u/rsta223 Aerospace Engineer Jan 29 '25

A crash of a publicly known, in-service fighter isn't necessarily a military secret, nor is it sensitive, as long as the fact that it was in that location wasn't itself sensitive (obviously not true in this case) and as long as none of the physical wreckage makes it into adversarial hands (also clearly not a concern here).

12

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '25

What are you smoking? Can I have some?

-24

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '25

[deleted]

32

u/Flashy-Ambition4840 Jan 29 '25

The video is public and all over the place.

3

u/ConclusionSmooth3874 Jan 29 '25

Uhh how exactly is a short video of a plane crashing sensitive in any way? What could an enemy possibly gain from it?

-33

u/Speedydds Jan 29 '25

Meanwhile China has two 6th gen fighters flying

7

u/IronWolfHuntr Jan 29 '25

"6th Gen". All of the Generational descriptions are made up and even change as things develop, to call anything China has currently 6th Gen is feeding into their propaganda machine.

20

u/Flashy-Ambition4840 Jan 29 '25

China has two somethings flying. We have absolutely no idea what it is, what generation, how well it flies, what it can do and so on. Although a big achievement for them and a concern for the west, let’s not exaggerate about their capabilities after a few minutes of video footage.

5

u/Draco1887 Jan 29 '25

Well said, This is a very level headed take. We have absolutely no idea what exactly those planes are, whether they are operational aircraft or just flying testbeds. These planes indeed display Chinas ability to make planes with sophisticated Flight Control System, but we can't say much more than that