F-117A Nighthawk Losses and Accident
An Air Force F-117A Nighthawk from the 49th Fighter Wing, Holloman AFB, N.M., crashed 7 miles south of Zuni, New Mexico, 10 May 1995. The pilot, Capt. Kenneth W. Levens, 9th Fighter Squadron, was killed in the crash. The stealth was on a training mission when the accident occurred.
The F-117A had an excellent year during FY96. There were no Class A's, only one Class B, and four Class C mishaps. This was an impressive record. The Class B resulted from a failed power takeoff (PTO) shaft. The pilot did an excellent job of determining the proper emergency procedures to follow and recovered a valuable national resource. The Class C mishaps involved a misrouted cross-bleed detector loop, failed oil pressure transducer, damage to a UHF antenna which occurred during air refueling, and failure of the right main landing gear upper scissor link.
From a historical perspective, by the end of 1996 there had been three Class A and three Class B mishaps in the F-117 world. This total included only those mishaps since the aircraft officially came into the Air Force inventory. The Class A's include a bleed air leak which eventually caused the pilot to eject, an engine fire due to an engine manifold leak, and failure to recover from an unusual attitude. The Class B's include a brake failure on landing roll which caused damage upon barrier engagement, a lost canopy during flight, and the failed PTO shaft.
On 21 November 1997, Major Ward Juedeman (Bandit 11) was returning to base from an F-117A day surface attack tactics training mission with approximately 15 minutes of fuel remaining. Maj Juedeman reported initial and set up for his base turn. After lowering the gear handle, Maj Juedeman noted that he only had a nose and right main gear down and locked indication with a red light in the handle. He quickly tested the lights, which checked good, and proceeded to break out of the overhead pattern leaving the gear down. Maj Juedeman declared an emergency, switched to the single frequency approach, and requested a safety chase. Since no other aircraft were airborne, the supervisor of flying immediately launched a T-38A that was taxiing for takeoff. After rejoining with the safety chase, Maj Juedeman was informed that the nose and right main gear were indeed down and locked with the left main gear up and the gear door closed. Referencing the checklist, Maj Juedeman attempted to raise the landing gear, but neither gear moved, leaving the aircraft in a configuration which recommends ejection. Maj Juedeman put the gear handle back down with no effect, and then attempted to lower the gear using the landing gear emergency extension system. After approximately 5 seconds the left main gear unlocked, deployed by gravity and air loads, and appeared to lock into place. Maj Juedeman then flew a flawless straight-in approach and landing.
An Air Force F-117A Nighthawk crashed 14 September 1997 while performing a fly-by demonstration for an airshow at Martin State Airport, 12 miles northeast of Baltimore. The pilot, Maj. Bryan Knight, safely ejected. He suffered minor injuries. Four people on the ground were injured and 10 families displaced by the crash, which caused extensive fire damage to several homes and vehicles. There were no fatalities or serious injuries. The aircraft had just completed its third pass of an air show flyover at Martin State Airport near Baltimore. The pilot was initiating his climb out for departure when he felt the aircraft shudder and the left wing broke off. The accident investigation report concluded that the cause of the accident was structural failure of a support assembly, known as the Brooklyn Bridge, in the left wing due to four missing fasteners of the 39 in the assembly. The Brooklyn Bridge assembly was apparently improperly reinstalled during a scheduled periodic inspection in Jan. 1996. The entire fleet of 53 F-117 Nighthawks was inspected during a command-directed precautionary stand down and none were found to have the same defect.
One F-117 fighter was lost over Yugoslavia on 27 March 1999. A US search and rescue team picked up the pilot several hours after the F-117 went down outside Belgrade.
