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US Marines resume F-35B flights; F-35A engine parts found after fire
By ANDREA SHALAL, Reuters
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Marine Corps on Friday resumed flights of its Lockheed Martin Corp F-35B jets that were suspended following a fire on an Air Force F-35A and prepared for the jet's global debut in Britain next month after the discovery of engine pieces from the F-35A pointed to an issue with that specific model.
"The Marine Corps will resume F-35B flight operations today. We are continuing with our plans to deploy to the UK next month," said Marine Corps spokesman Captain Richard Ulsh.
Three F-35B jets flew on Friday from a Marine Corps base in Yuma, Arizona to an air base in southern Maryland, where they will be readied for their first trans-Atlantic flights, according to sources familiar with the program.
The deployment of the jets to Britain had been called into question after a fire broke out in the rear of an Air Force A-model F-35 on Monday as the pilot was preparing to take off for a training flight.
The Air Force on Thursday suspended flights of all F-35 A-model jets while it continues to investigate the fire.
Sources familiar with the situation said engine pieces and fragments were found on the runway at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida after the fire, the first confirmation that the fire involved the plane's engine, which was built by Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp.
The Air Force has not released any details about its investigation of the mishap.
Pratt builds the engines for all three models of the F-35: the Air Force's conventional takeoff A-model, the Marine Corps' B-model, which can land vertically, and the Navy's C-model, which is for use on aircraft carriers.
The sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said the discovery of the engine parts did not point to a specific cause of the fire and said the investigation was continuing.
But they said it cleared the way for the Marine Corps and Navy to resume flights since their B- and C-model jets have a different engine.
Matthew Bates, spokesman for Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp, said his company was ready to assist in the Air Force investigation, and referred all further questions to the Air Force.
The Air Force had no immediate comment on the report.
One of the sources said discovery of engine fragments on the runway after the fire could point to several different possible causes, including a manufacturing quality issue affecting just the engine in question, which had flown for about 150 hours.
Engine damage could also stem from debris in the engine, or a maintenance problem, the sources said. — Reuters
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