According to Forbes , the incident occurred in March 2023 at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, USA. At that time, a US Air Force aircraft maintenance team was assigned to perform a routine inspection of the power system of the F-35.
The maintenance crew arrived at the facility at 2:30 p.m., but rain and lightning prevented them from starting work immediately. They eventually got to work, however. The maintenance required the crew to use flashlights to see in the dark space around the Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 engine.
Maintenance crews work on an F-35 at Luke Air Force Base (Arizona, USA) in 2020.
They started the engine and let it run for about 13 minutes. The F-35’s self-monitoring sensors showed no signs of trouble, and the maintenance team shut down the engine as planned. But now they heard “unusual noises” as the engine slowed down.
After shutting down the engine, a maintenance crew member “completed a post-operational service inspection and identified damage to the engine blades,” according to the report. The person then reported the engine damage to a supervisor, stating, “I believe the engine just swallowed a flashlight.”
The US Air Force Accident Investigation Board concluded that a handheld flashlight did indeed cause damage to the F-35's $14 million engine. The report estimated the damage to the engine at $3,933,106 — enough to scrap it.
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