The South Korean Air Force (ROKAF) confirmed this Friday (14) that its F-35 that made a belly landing collided with a bird in flight, the so-called bird strike. The military continues to investigate the accident to find out why the landing gear did not descend after the collision.
On the 04th of January, a ROKAF F-35A made a belly landing at Seosan air base, west of the country. The pilot was not injured, but the aircraft suffered damage to the fuselage. On the date, information indicated that the stealth fighter had avionics problems, forcing the pilot to make a belly landing.
The ROKAF today released the results of a preliminary investigation into the crash, saying the bird hit the left side air intake. In addition, the Air Force also asked local media to refrain from reporting "driven by speculation" on the reason for the belly landing.
A team of specialists from the United States will travel to the country to carry out an additional investigation of technical details. In this scope, investigators want to know the reasons for the non-functioning of the avionics and landing gear of the F-35 in the accident.
The ROKAF currently has around 30 F-35A fighters in service, having acquired a total of 40 aircraft. Seoul also wants to buy F-35B vertical take-off and landing fighters to operate on its future aircraft carrier, the LPX-II. In addition to the stealth jet, the ROKAF operates the F-15K Slam Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, FA-50 Golden Eagle, F-4E Phantom II, F-5E/F Tiger II and develops the KF-21 Boramae fighter.
