Watch This F-22 Raptor’s Tailhook Catch The Arresting Wire During An Emergency Landing
Like all U.S. Air Force fighters, the F-22 has a tailhook primarily for just this reason—landing safely during an in-flight emergency.
One of the 199th Fighter Squadron's F-22A Raptors had an in-flight emergency (IFE) on Wednesday, August 11th, 2021, and had to return to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, which is attached to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, for an arrested landing. The event is also referred to as a "barrier engagement" in U.S. Air Force parlance. Our friend @hnlramper was there to capture the action, which is really quite a rare sight, not for some USAF fighters really, but when it comes to publically available images and video of the F-22 doing so.
Like all USAF fighters, the F-22 has an emergency hook, although in its case it is buried beneath a stealthy shroud that's incorporated into the jet's empennage. Daniel K. Inouye International has multiple runways equipped with the BAK-14 retractable arrestor gear system, which is essential equipment needed to support the co-located squadron of F-22 Raptors.
Check out the video of the barrier engagement courtesy of @hnlramper below. If it doesn't populate automatically you can check it out on Instagram directly here.
@hnlrampr stated the following about the incident and its positive conclusion:
Today we had an #f22 come in on an Emergency and he required the use of the barrier cable and thankfully everything worked out flawlessly and the plane stopped on a dime safely. All the hard working guys and gals from #hickamafb did a great job to get the plane secured and off the RWY ASAP so the rest of the group could get the arresting cable back in place and set up for the next time it's needed. All in all the RWY was closed for maybe 1.5 hours max. Great job.
You can watch the Hawaii Air National Guard's 154th Wing testing one of their home airport's BAK-14s during an exercise below:
Barrier engagements can come as a result of a long list of IFEs, including hydraulic or undercarriage issues, or even a malfunctioning environmental control system. They can even be used for short field operations, at least in some cases. Regardless, it's great that everything worked out and one of the unit's precious Raptors and its even more precious pilot made it down safe.
Author's note: Make sure to check out @hnlramper's Instagram page, it is filled with great action from one of the most interesting airports in the world.
Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com
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