Loose fasteners blamed for F-35 fuel leak

Maintainers with the 33rd Fighter Wing have determined that three loose fasteners caused the small fuel leak during the F-35’s first mission flight Tuesday.

The wing’s first F-35A Joint Strike Fighter took off at 10:07 a.m. for what was supposed to be a 90-minute flight.

The sortie was cut short to roughly 20 minutes when the pilot of an F-16 acting as a chase plane spotted what appeared to a small fuel leak on the F-35.

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