£100M F-35 stuck in Kerala: After five weeks, stranded UK fighter jet to leave India tomorrow
EW DELHI: A British F-35B Lightning II fighter jet that was grounded at Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram airport since 14 June is set to fly out on Tuesday, officials have confirmed.
A joint team of aviation engineers from the UK and the US, including personnel from the British Royal Navy and Lockheed Martin, carried out extensive repairs after identifying a fault in the aircraft's hydraulic system.
Despite an initial round of maintenance, the issue could not be resolved until a second team of 14 experts arrived earlier this month.
The aircraft — part of the UK's HMS Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group — had made an unscheduled landing while returning from joint maritime exercises with the Indian Navy in the Indo-Pacific.
Final clearance for take-off came from the UK following a detailed technical report from the engineering team.
The plane is in the hangar of the Thiruvananthapuram airport. This is the first time an F35 plane got stranded in country.
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Just two feet away, a colleague of mine had run into the fire. He fell at my feet, pleading to be saved. His whole body was burned. I stood there like a stone. Someone pulled me away, and we were taken out," she recalled. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The aircraft involved was an F-7BGI, an advanced model of China's J-7 fighter jet, which had been on a training flight and took off from the air force base, just about 11 kilometres away. A desperate search for the loved ones The emotional and psychological impact of the crash has deeply scarred students and their families, many of whom witnessed the unthinkable. Farhan Hasan, a student who had just stepped out of an exam room, said he saw the jet hit the school with his own eyes. 'The plane hit the school building right before my eyes,' he told BBC Bangla. 'My best friend, the one I was in the exam hall with, he died right in front of my eyes.' Women react at the site of a At the crash site, panic quickly turned into desperation. 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But we are not following these rules. Even our approach lines are obstructed by numerous obstacles,' he said. On Tuesday, a national day of mourning is being observed across Bangladesh with flags flown at half-mast in all government offices, semi-government bodies, autonomous institutions, and educational campuses. With input from agencies
