A British F-35B Lightning II fighter jet made an emergency landing at Kagoshima Airport in Kirishima City, Japan, on the morning of 10 August, according to Japanese media.
No injuries were reported and the airport has resumed normal operations. Verified imagery has confirmed this.
We understand that the F-35 diverted to Kagoshima International Airport in Japan today following an engineering issue during a sortie from HMS Prince of Wales. The aircraft is undergoing inspection and will return to the Carrier Strike Group as soon as possible.
The Kagoshima Airport Office said the aircraft landed shortly after 11:30am local time after the pilot reported a possible mechanical problem to air traffic control. NHK footage showed the jet parked near the runway at 2:00pm with no visible damage.
“The fighter pilot had contacted air traffic control in advance, stating that he was experiencing a possible mechanical problem and wishing to make an emergency landing,” the airport office told NHK.
Following the landing, the airport closed its runway for around 20 minutes while the F-35B was moved to a taxiway and safety checks were carried out. Six departing and arriving flights were delayed by about 20 minutes.
Japan’s Ministry of Defense confirmed the aircraft was a British carrier-based F-35B from HMS Prince of Wales, which is currently deployed in the Western Pacific as part of the UK’s Carrier Strike Group 25 (CSG25). “The aircraft landed at Kagoshima Airport due to a malfunction,” the ministry said.
HMS Prince of Wales and several accompanying vessels are in the region conducting joint training with the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military, with exercises scheduled to continue until 12 August. The deployment forms part of Operation Highmast, demonstrating the UK’s ability to operate alongside allies in the Indo-Pacific.
Oh dear…
Not again!
He should have landed on a container ship. At least he could have got a lift home.🤣 Malfunctions happen all the time, it’s like the proverbial cat up a tree. The Harrier had dozens of incidents. I do hope they don’t just leave him there for weeks, though.
Difference is Japan is a country which has been authorise to buy F35B – so there isn’t a security angle taking help from the appropriate locals.
I’d far rather a pilot does an emergency landing in friendly tarmac than risk the frame and their life.
In this case the frame is undamaged and so is the pilot so everyone gets to fly another day.
It isn’t like civilian airlines never have mechanicals….
Hi SB, Given that he has landed about 60 miles from Nyutabaru AFB (Japanese F35B base) it should be a very different experience to the incident in India. Zero security concerns and they should be perfectly capable of assessing the problem and fixing it, without needing to send bods from Marham. In a way it’s a realistic extension of the military cooperation exercises that CSG25 is engaged in (just unplanned).
The biggest issue may be that Japanese military hospitality is legendary so the Pilot may not be too happy if they quickly fix it, he should have a very nice time.
Is the base at Nyutabaru not still under construction? I don’t believe they’ll be much help in that regard.
Ignore the above, misunderstanding on my part.
You say the Harrier fleet had dozens of incidents, but that was a far larger fleet over a considerable period of time.
Do you know the rate of their failure – is that information readily available?
I just wonder as the India debacle and this incident are close together , and our F35 fleet is considerably smaller, so comparable data would be interesting, as would the causation of this (and the India) incident.
What happened to the ‘India’ aircraft eventually?
I seem to recall an number of engineers could not resolve the issue and there was talk of bringing it back in a transporter aircraft.
Has it been repaired , or will it be , or is it another one that’s been scrapped?
Which Fleet of Harriers are you thinking of? There was several, First Gen RAF GR’s, a simple aircraft in itself, SHAR’s both FRS1 and FA2 *which was a very different beast and very high tech for it day, Second Gen RAF GR’s. All had issues but from what I know the RN fleets were kept going well and delivered when asked, managed to have 2 x frontline units equiped to War numbers and still the training unit was working too from a relatively small fleet (the new build FA2’s simply did not meet the mustard as they were not as well equiped as the rebuilds and never really served apart as a sauce of spares). Cant say much about the RAF as only saw them at sea with long long long faces………….
JJ
#day 1 ?
Haha beat me too it
Lol British F35 world tour
Anyone remotely familiar with fast jet operations will know that precautionary landings or state 2 landings like this are extremely routine. In the Harrier GR7/9 days, we had 3/4 a month on average at Cottesmore. Sometimes that number in one week. And these types of stories do nothing but give information to the mass uninformed the opportunity to make ridiculous comments. Just seen the Facebook post. And the comments are indeed ridiculous.
Yeah well it is Facebook, I’m sure Twitter is far more respectful 😈
Quite
How many civilian airbus or Boeings do precautionary diverts each day? Quite a few I’d imagine.
Far better to get the plane down safely and take it from there.
Well said mate.
It seems we are the only ones who have aircraft malfunctions.
Good Morning M8. I suspect the only comment CSG25 will make is “lucky bugger”, he should have a very nice stay whilst the local AFB fix his plane (they are the F35B home).
Evening mate!
Some just seem obsessed with wanting to see QE class and F35B fail.
I’d expand that to all the forces.
We have a fantastic military, considering the financial, numbers and kit restraints placed on it by HMG.
Morning Robert, I tend to avoid those sites like the plague. The very worst in people is easily extracted by a picture. The TVR one I used to be on was horrific, anything defence related just brings out all the stupid comments.
But I’m here now !!! 😁
F-16 dot net has listed in regards to the F-35 accidents and incidents. Or just the F-35 accidents and incidents wiki. There have been other incidents with other nations. The wiki is quite detailed.
Hopefully this one is back flying again soon and there’s no repeat of the Indian saga.
I read that only three of the four F-35Bs meant to have been been delivered to Japan a few days ago made it, with no news about the fourth. I wonder if the F-35Bs are more fragile than most, or if it just seems that way because of reporting and because there are still so few in service. If we had a fleet of 90, would we be so fixated on every plane?
It doesn’t help that every plane we have bought so far will need significant amounts of money spent on upgrades to perform as advertised, not least in terms of weaponry. I hope that ten years from now this is all seen as extended teething problems long since sorted, that upgrades will have been done, and availability figures will have risen to something more reasonable. Until then we have to keep on keeping on. There’s no alternative.
Don’t panic, the 4th one was in full Stealth Mode.
I did read somewhere that the internal structure of the F-35B is different to the others to accommodate the lift fan, and that specifically some struts have been reduced in size (not using technical terms, forgive me). This is only supposed to (possibly) affect end of life and final operating hours though, shouldn’t be causing a problem this early in the airframe’s life.
I’m also concerned that we’re resuming orders on airframes that don’t have the hardware upgrades that are required for Block 4. I’m sure there are reasons that are undisclosed, but from the outside it doesn’t make sense. Given the delays etc. MOD should have been entirely within their rights to refuse to take delivery slots of airframes which do not meet performance criteria- and to only resume once the right hardware was on the production lines.
Or, alternatively, secure an undertaking from LockMart that the upgrades would be carried out FoC or parts/labour FoC. But that almost certainly hasn’t happened either…
An emergency landing is only classed as such if the pilot makes a mayday call. Which was not the case with this diversion. Seems like a copy-and-paste article from elsewhere. It was also one of the 4 jets en route to South Korea for exercises.
British F35s aren’t called Ligthning IIs, just Lightnings. Don’t know why, just the way it is.
Have seen a couple of instances recently of them being misnamed as such on tthis webite.
Just seen QEC sushi chef job advert
Not like you can get home delivery on a QEC; I wander if the warning light is still on… ”Well, it was when I landed!”
Will the F35 ever be given a UK Military designation? FGA Mk1 for the F35B and FAS Mk2 for the A’s (with their Nuc role) when they arrive?
Its taking far too long for these expensive aircraft to deliver on its promise of weapons capability, like fighting with one arm tied behind ones back…….
Like a one legged man in an arse kicking contest…
luckily nothing bad happened. but single engine aircraft are not as forgiving for naval ops
Bring back the Double Mamba !