NASA Probing Jet’s Mechanical Failure

Investigators with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Tuesday were looking into a mechanical failure on an F-18 jet that forced a pilot to make an emergency landing at Edwards Air Force Base.

The pilot was not hurt, but a wing and landing gear were damaged, said Jenny Baer-Riedhart, spokeswoman at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards.

NASA research pilot James Barrilleaux had completed a pilot proficiency flight and was about to land at 3 p.m. Monday when one of the landing gears failed to lock in, Baer-Riedhart said. The pilot of an Air Force F-16 joined the NASA jet in flight to confirm the failure.

Barrilleaux, a 35-year veteran and high-altitude reconnaissance pilot, then landed the aircraft using an emergency tail-hook cable stretched across the end of the runway to stop the disabled jet, Baer-Riedhart said. No other aircraft was involved, and there was no damage to property on the ground.

Barrilleaux has flown U-2 reconnaissance planes and their civilian counterpart, ER-2s, on a series of military and scientific missions, according to NASA records. One of the operations included the discovery of the so-called “ozone hole” in the atmosphere over Antarctica.