F-35 software glitch caused crash in Utah

By Rachel S. Cohen
Thursday, Jul 27, 2023

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.

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.

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.

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