Serious Injury Incurred During JSF Maintenance

A U.S. Navy sailor was seriously injured while conducting maintenance on an F-35C Lightning II jet at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California, according to the Naval Safety Command and officials.

The 01 June incident occurred as the sailor was performing routine maintenance on an F-35 assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 97, according to a Naval Air Forces statement.

Following the mishap—of which little is known—the sailor was provided on-scene, emergency medical care, then air-lifted to a hospital in Fresno, California.

The sailor—whose identity is protected by privacy regulations—is in fair condition and remains hospitalized; so say officials who declined to provide further details on the incident, citing an ongoing investigation.

Naval Safety Command has classified the accident as a Class A mishap. Such occurrences involve permanent total-disability or death, as well as damages of  $2.5-million or more and/or the destruction of an aircraft.  

The Naval Safety Command (NAVSAFECOM) is a U.S. Navy entity comprising four directorates: aviation, afloat, shore, and operational risk management/expeditionary warfare. 

The Command’s mission is to preserve the U.S. Navy’s war-fighting capability, combat lethality and readiness by mitigating or eliminating hazards for purpose of reducing unnecessary risks to Naval personnel and assets.

In addition to identifying insufficiently mitigated risk, the command polices the Naval Enterprise’s risk adjudication processes. Stated otherwise, NAVSAFECOM identifies risks through direct and indirect observation. Once a risk is identified and a fix proposed, NAVSAFECOM monitors the fix until such a time that subject risk is mitigated, brought to an end, or settled conclusively.

FMI: https://navalsafetycommand.navy.mil