An F-15E landed without one of its wheels at Kadena Air Base in Japan on Aug. 4 after leaving it behind on takeoff from Diego Garcia.
The pilot and co-pilot were unhurt, according to a statement from the 18th Wing at Kadena.
The fighter took off from Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, and the wheel “was discovered to be missing in flight,” according to the 18th Wing. The missing wheel was later recovered on the flight line at Diego Garcia.
It is unclear how or why the wheel detached or what the status of the F-15 is after the rough landing. Officials did not immediately respond to a query from Air & Space Forces Magazine.
A safety investigation will follow, but the Air Force did not comment on that.
F-15 fighters deployed to Diego Garcia in May to provide “force protection” for the island, according to statements at the time. Over the course of the spring and summer, both B-2 and B-52 bombers had operated from the island base, as part of the U.S. campaign to stop Houthi rebels in Yemen from attacking international shipping and also, more broadly, as a signal to Iran.
The F-15E involved in the incident is part of a rotation of fighters operating out of Kadena as the base awaits a permanent wing of new F-15EX aircraft. The F-15Es currently operating out of Kadena are from the 336th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., and deployed there in April. Publicly available flight tracking data confirmed the Seymour Johnson jets were the ones to deploy from Kadena to Diego Garcia.
The Air Force did not say which wheel was missing from the jet. In 2022, Maj. Brady Augustin executed a successful “belly landing” after losing a left main landing wheel from his F-16 during takeoff. He was awarded the Koren Kolligian Jr. Trophy, a prestigious flight safety award, for his landing. In 2017, Capt. Brett DeVries landed his A-10 without either a canopy or wheels after an in-flight emergency; he earned a Distinguished Flying Cross for the feat. Pilots have also executed belly landings in T-6 and T-38 Training aircraft after landing gear malfunctions.
Famed test pilot Tom Morgenfeld once described landing an F-117 Nighthawk without its nose wheel, even with the landing gear extended. He deployed the stealth aircraft’s drag chute to slow down and minimize damage.
The Air Force has not yet provided details on what kind of landing pilots executed Aug. 4.