A Marine fighter jet that was being used for Top Gun training took a nosedive in January while parked at a Nevada Navy installation.
An F-35C Lighting II assigned to 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing’s Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 311 “experienced an incident involving collapse of the nose landing gear” on Jan. 26 at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada, Marine spokesman Capt. Stephanie Leguizamon said via email to Marine Corps Times on Tuesday.
No injuries were reported. The jet will return to service once it is repaired, Leguizamon said.
Often referred to as Top Gun, the elite Navy Fighter Weapons School teaches advanced air combat maneuvering tactics and techniques, according to the Navy.
The F-35C had been parked and shut down “following a routine training mission in support of the U.S. Navy’s Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program,” Leguizamon said.
The military is investigating the incident, according to the spokeswoman, who added that the investigation will assess the cost of the damage.
An image of the jet with its nose on the ground were posted to social media earlier in February. The Aviationist first reported the incident.
The F-35C is meant to be flown from aircraft carriers or land bases and has a longer range than the more nimble “B” variant, which is more prevalent in the Marine Corps.
A similar face-plant incident occurred in 2022 with a Marine Corps F-35B, which went nose-down on a runway in Japan after it landed because of a suspected electrical issue.
In 2018, the nose landing gear of an Air Force F-35A collapsed on the ground following a landing for a midair emergency.
Irene Loewenson is a staff reporter for Marine Corps Times. She joined Military Times as an editorial fellow in August 2022. She is a graduate of Williams College, where she was the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper.
