By Rachel S. Cohen

作者：雷切尔 S.科恩

 Jul 28

2023年7月28日

 

An F-35A Lightning II assigned to the 421st Fighter Generation Squadron flies during an F-35 demonstration team practice at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, July 12, 2023. (Staff Sgt. Kaitlyn Ergish/Air Force)

2023年7月12日，一架隶属于第421代战斗机中队的F-35A闪电II在犹他州希尔空军基地的F-35演示队训练中飞行。（空军上士凯特琳·埃尔吉什）

 

An F-35A Lightning II fighter crashed at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, last October when turbulent air confused its avionics, rendering the jet uncontrollable, an Air Force investigation has found.

美国空军的一项调查发现，去年10月，一架F-35A闪电II战斗机在犹他州希尔空军基地坠毁，当时湍流的空气扰乱了其航空电子设备，导致飞机无法控制。

 

The nonfatal crash marks the second time an Air Force F-35A has been destroyed in an accident since the jets began flying in 2012. Its loss cost the Air Force more than $166 million, the service said in a report released Thursday.

这起非致命坠机事件标志着空军F-35A自2012年开始飞行以来第二次在事故中被毁。空军在周四发布的一份报告中表示，其坠毁使空军损失超过1.66亿美元。

 

The accident unfolded just after 6 p.m. local time on Oct. 19, 2022, as a quartet of F-35As returned to Hill from an “uneventful” training sortie, the report said. The jet that crashed, assigned to Hill’s 421st Fighter Squadron, was approaching the base as the third aircraft in the four-ship formation.

报道称，事故发生在当地时间2022年10月19日下午6点刚过，当时四架F-35A从“平静”的训练飞行返回希尔。这架坠毁的喷气式飞机隶属于希尔的第421战斗机中队，当时正作为四机编队中的第三架飞机接近基地。

 

As they prepared to land, the pilot felt a “slight rumbling” of turbulence from the wake of the aircraft in front of him, the report said. The bumpy air caused the F-35′s flight controls to register incorrect flight data, and the jet stopped responding to the pilot’s attempts at manual control.

报道称，当他们准备降落时，飞行员感觉到前方飞机的尾流发出“轻微的隆隆声”。颠簸的空气导致F-35的飞行控制装置记录了错误的飞行数据，飞机对飞行员的手动控制尝试停止了响应。

 

The pilot tried to abort the landing and try again, but the jet responded by sharply banking to the left. Further attempts to right the aircraft failed, and the pilot safely ejected north of the base. His F-35 crashed near a runway at Hill.

飞行员试图中止着陆并再次尝试，但飞机突然向左倾斜。试图纠正飞机的进一步尝试失败了，飞行员安全地弹射到基地以北。他驾驶的F-35在希尔的跑道附近坠毁。

 

The entire incident lasted less than 10 seconds, the report showed.

报告显示，整个事件持续了不到10秒。

 

The aircraft “looked like a totally normal F-35 before obviously going out of control,” an F-35 test pilot who watched the accident from the ground told investigators. “I did see really large flight control surface movements — [stabilizers], trailing edge flaps, rudders all seem to be moving pretty rapidly.”

这架飞机“看起来像完全正常的F-35，”一名在地面观察事故的F-35试飞员告诉调查人员。“我确实看到了非常大的飞行控制表面动作——[稳定装置]，后缘襟翼，方向舵似乎都动作得非常快。”

 

Investigators found that the pilot involved in the crash hadn’t followed turbulence procedures in effect that day. That requires airmen to fly farther apart, with at least 9,000 feet between landings.

调查人员发现，参与事故的飞行员当天没有遵守湍流程序。要求飞行员飞行更远的距离，着陆之间至少有9000英尺。

 

However, the report noted that the F-35′s flight manual tells pilots to space out their landings by 3,000 feet, and doesn’t specify how far apart they should be in case of turbulence.

然而，报告指出，F-35的飞行手册告诉飞行员将着陆间隔3000英尺，并没有具体说明在发生湍流时应该相距多远。

 

Simulations confirmed that the issue stemmed from the jet’s misinterpretation of the flight data, not the physical effects of turbulence itself.

模拟证实，这个问题源于喷气式飞机对飞行数据的误解，而不是湍流本身的物理影响。

 

“The F-35 enterprise has over 600,000 flight hours and this is the first known occurrence where wake turbulence had this impact on the air data system,” the report noted.

报告指出：“F-35服务计划的飞行时间超过60万小时，这是已知的第一次尾流湍流对空气数据系统产生这种影响。”。

 

The Air Force said the likelihood of a similar accident happening again is minimal.

空军表示，类似事故再次发生的可能性很小。

 

“As with any aircraft accident, we will incorporate the findings from this report as appropriate to improve processes and enhance flight safety across the Air Force,” an Air Combat Command spokesperson said.

空战司令部发言人表示：“与任何飞机事故一样，我们将酌情纳入本报告的调查结果，以改进整个空军的流程，提高飞行安全。”

 

The F-35A is the Air Force’s most advanced stealth fighter for aerial reconnaissance, ground strike and air defense missions. The service plans to grow from about 375 to 432 F-35As in 2023, stationed at several bases in the U.S. and overseas.

F-35A是空军最先进的隐形战斗机，用于空中侦察、地面打击和防空任务。该服务计划在2023年从约375架F-35A增加到432架，驻扎在美国和海外的几个基地。