Fighter Pilots Avoid Bird Strike

Two F-35B Lightning pilots from RAF Marham had quite a bizarre chain of events this last December. The two fighter jets were about to land at RAF Lossiemouth when everything started to go wrong.

Typhoons at the destination were still awaiting clearance as there were Typhoons still trying to taxi across the runway. However, one of the Typhoons soon suffered a fuel leak out of the fuel vent on the tail, right across Runway 23.

These European fighter jets can vent fuel, but everyone knew this amount of fuel was NOT within normal operations.

With the F-35s nearing the runway, the operators decided to change the runway to the less frequently used Runway 28. That’s when things went bad for the F-35s.

A flock of birds was seen on the runway. Flocks of geese and gulls are quite common at Lossiemouth due to its location near the sea and farmland.

Fortunately, Corporal Scott Brown was able to fire his flare gun from the runway caravan to warn the F-35 pilots not to land due to a potential bird strike.

Brown’s quick reaction might have just saved the lives of the pilots and the people on the ground!