F-35 Alaska Crash: WoW Sensors Indicated Aircraft Was on Ground Despite Being Airborne

A US Air Force F-35 crash on January 28 this year has been traced to its Weight on Wheels (WoW) sensors indicating that the aircraft was on the ground when it was actually in the air.

WoW systems are designed to indicate whether the weight of an aircraft is resting on its wheels, therefore detecting when the aircraft has become airborne, Forcesnews reported

It will then trigger various systems to operate appropriately based on whether the aircraft is on the ground or in flight.

Due to the faulty reading, the F-35 Lightning II transitioned to "on ground" flight control – despite being airborne – and became uncontrollable.The pilot successfully ejected, suffering minor injuries related to the ejection, and emergency responders were at the scene within a minute.

The aircraft was destroyed on impact with a total loss valued at $196.5m.

The WoW sensors misreading has been attributed to hydraulic fluid contaminated by water that led to the crash of a US Air Force F-35A Lightning II, an accident investigation has found.

The incident on 28 January 2025 involved an F-35A from the US Air Force’s 355th Fighter Squadron, 354th Fighter Wing, based at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska.

The Accident Investigation Board determined the aircraft's nose landing gear did not retract properly due to the contaminated fluid having frozen.

After running multiple checklists and a conference call with engineers, the pilot's attempts to centre the nose landing gear failed.During those attempts, ice formed inside the main landing gear struts, and they did not fully extend.

This caused all valid Weight on Wheels (WoW) sensors to indicate the aircraft was on the ground.