- British Royal Navy's F-35B will leave Kerala after five weeks of being grounded at Thiruvananthapuram Airport
- Hydraulic system fault caused emergency landing of F-35B en route from UK to Australia on June 14
- Pilot made emergency landing due to hydraulic failure, low fuel, and bad weather with IAF assistance
British Royal Navy's F-35B will bid goodbye to Kerala and fly out tomorrow after being grounded for five weeks at the the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport. The hydraulic system fault, due to which the aircraft had to make an emergency landing, has been rectified and a final clearance has been given to allow the jet to fly on Tuesday.
On June 14, the F-35B fighter jet, en route from the UK to Australia, made an emergency landing in Kerala's Trivandrum after it encountered a hydraulic failure.
The pilot, facing low fuel levels and adverse weather conditions, opted for an emergency landing at the nearest suitable airport, which happened to be in Kerala. The Indian Air Force facilitated the landing and assisted.
Over the past five weeks, several efforts have been made to take the fighter jet back to its home country. The 5th-generation stealth fighter is part of the UK's HMS Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group, which is currently operating in the Indo-Pacific and recently completed joint maritime exercises with the Indian Navy.
On July 6, the fighter jet was towed to a hangar to fix engineering issues and hydraulic snag. A team of 24 people from the UK - 14 technical experts from the British Royal Air Force and 10 crew members - was brought to Kerala to repair the fighter jet.
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