US Air Force F-22 makes emergency landing at Kadena Air Base

US Air Force F-22 makes emergency landing at Kadena Air Base

At around 4:30pm on April 3, U.S. military personnel cleaned up ten or more meters of leaked fuel at Kadena Air Base. (Photograph provided by a reader of the Ryukyu Shimpo.)


April 4, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo

At around 4:10pm on April 3, a U.S. F-22 Raptor stealth fighter deployed to Kadena Air Base made an emergency landing on the base’s southern runway. The Air Force has not released the details of what occurred, but after the stealth jet fighter landed, fuel was seen to have leaked from its fuselage over a distance of ten or more meters. U.S. military personnel cleaned up the leaked fuel. According to a witness, the F-22 entered the southern runway from Route 58’s side and stopped at the side of the runway emitting white smoke from the rear part of its engine. An emergency vehicle approached the F-22, and the pilot stepped down from the cockpit. The aircraft was later towed toward a hanger at around 6:00pm.

Two F-22s also made emergency landings on April 1. The U.S. Air Force temporarily grounded its fleet of F-22 after several incidents in which pilots complained of hypoxia-like symptoms. It is said that problems with the pilot vests were detected. The U.S. military restarted its flying operations in May 2012 after they announced that the matter had been resolved.

(English translation by T&CT, Lima Tokumori and Mark Ealey)

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