The Air Force’s fleet-wide suspension of F-35A flights continued into its eighth day Tuesday.
Flights of the conventional variant have been suspended since June 23 when a fire broke out in the back of a jet when it was about to takeoff at Eglin AFB, Fla. Although the suspension affected just F-35As at Eglin, it was extended fleet wide June 25. Local operators in the Navy and Marine Corps halted flights of F-35Cs and F-35Bs, respectively, on June 26. The Marine Corps’ F-35Bs returned to flight June 27.
F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) spokeswoman Kyra Hawn said Tuesday a grounding, as opposed to a flight suspension, is a determination by the air worthiness authority to modify, suspend or discontinue flight operations based on technical findings or in response to a major aircraft incident. Hawn said the Air Force and Navy issue these directives through different processes, but each similarly define the criteria for the grounding, specifics relating to the findings, repair or recovery measures and define how return to flight will be evaluated and granted.
The Air Force’s air worthiness authority, Hawn said, is Air Force Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) and while other major commands, like Air Education Training Command (AETC), were involved in authorizing the cautionary suspension of flight last week, it will be LCMC making the final determination.
Hawn said the local operators within the Navy have suspended F-35C flights, as they were Monday, but calls to the Navy for confirmation were not returned by press time. The F-35 is developed by Lockheed Martin [LMT] with subcontractors BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman [NOC].