CrazyZ
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2019
- Messages
- 4,617
- Reaction score
- 2
- Country
- Location
The U.S. Ends Search for Missing F-35 Fighter Jet
The pilot will likely never be found
By Kyle Mizokami
May 10, 2019
-GETTY IMAGES
The U.S. has ended participation in the search for a Japanese F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The fighter went missing approximately one month ago during a routine training flight over the Pacific Ocean. A joint U.S./Japanese recovery effort located the plane’s flight data recorder but the pilot remains missing.
The missing plane was part of a four plane training flight that took off from Misawa air base on the evening of April 9th. The F-35A, piloted by Japan Air Self Defense Force Maj. Akinori Hosomi, went down approximately 85 miles east of Japan. According to Stars and Stripes, pieces of the plane’s left and right rudders were found two hours later
The U.S. and Japan both sent ships to help search for the missing plane. The U.S. chartered the civilian deep sea diving support vessel Van Gogh, and dispatched the CURV 21 remotely operated vehicle. CURV 21 is 6,400 pound underwater drone is designed to undertake salvage operations for the U.S. Navy and can operate at depths of up to 20,000 feet. Japan sent the Kaimei, a deep sea scientific survey ship operated by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology.
At some point after May 3rd, searchers found part of the missing aircraft’s cockpit and the flight data recorder. According to The Japan Times, parts of the aircraft were recovered at a depth of 1,500 meters—or 4,900 feet—below the surface of the ocean. The cockpit data recorder was recovered but was heavily damaged and reportedly lacked a storage device that recorded speed or altitude data. The pilot’s remains have still not been found.
Although the Van Gogh and Kaimei are ending their participation in the search other ships and aircraft will continue to search for the plane, including a Japanese minesweeper, two private salvage ships, and Japanese military aircraft.
Japan plans to buy 147 F-35 fighters, which will make it the largest operator of the aircraft outside the U.S. military. The island country, neighbor to an increasingly heavily armed China, will purchase 105 of the -A versions used by the U.S. Air Force. It will also buy 42 of the -B vertical takeoff and landing version used by the U.S. Marine Corps, with plans to base them off two helicopters carriers.
The pilot will likely never be found
By Kyle Mizokami
May 10, 2019
-GETTY IMAGES
The U.S. has ended participation in the search for a Japanese F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The fighter went missing approximately one month ago during a routine training flight over the Pacific Ocean. A joint U.S./Japanese recovery effort located the plane’s flight data recorder but the pilot remains missing.
The missing plane was part of a four plane training flight that took off from Misawa air base on the evening of April 9th. The F-35A, piloted by Japan Air Self Defense Force Maj. Akinori Hosomi, went down approximately 85 miles east of Japan. According to Stars and Stripes, pieces of the plane’s left and right rudders were found two hours later
The U.S. and Japan both sent ships to help search for the missing plane. The U.S. chartered the civilian deep sea diving support vessel Van Gogh, and dispatched the CURV 21 remotely operated vehicle. CURV 21 is 6,400 pound underwater drone is designed to undertake salvage operations for the U.S. Navy and can operate at depths of up to 20,000 feet. Japan sent the Kaimei, a deep sea scientific survey ship operated by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology.
At some point after May 3rd, searchers found part of the missing aircraft’s cockpit and the flight data recorder. According to The Japan Times, parts of the aircraft were recovered at a depth of 1,500 meters—or 4,900 feet—below the surface of the ocean. The cockpit data recorder was recovered but was heavily damaged and reportedly lacked a storage device that recorded speed or altitude data. The pilot’s remains have still not been found.
Although the Van Gogh and Kaimei are ending their participation in the search other ships and aircraft will continue to search for the plane, including a Japanese minesweeper, two private salvage ships, and Japanese military aircraft.
Japan plans to buy 147 F-35 fighters, which will make it the largest operator of the aircraft outside the U.S. military. The island country, neighbor to an increasingly heavily armed China, will purchase 105 of the -A versions used by the U.S. Air Force. It will also buy 42 of the -B vertical takeoff and landing version used by the U.S. Marine Corps, with plans to base them off two helicopters carriers.
