UPDATE: USMC F-35B crash, KC-130J emergency landing

The pilot of the KC-130J that crash-landed its badly hampered aircraft showed impressive skills when he touched down safely in a remote area of California and prevented injuries among the seven other crew members after a mid-air collision with the F-35B Lightning II as officials said on 30 September 2020.

The cause of the mid-air collision is unclear, but looking at the damage on the right wing of the KC-130J, it is possible that the pilot of the F-35B approached the tanker too fast, by accident hit the throttle during refueling, or was not able to compensate for unexpected turbulence.

This possibly resulted in overshooting the refueling basket and probe after which the F-35B came underneath the tankers wing. Manoeuvring, possibly of both aircraft, then resulted in the right wing of the tanker hitting the F-35B.

Pictures of the crash-landing clearly show massive damage to engines 3 and 4, and both six-bladed propellers as well as the fuel tank that is positioned in between the engines.

The F-35B squadron is still not confirmed, but it looks like it is a Lightning II from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121 "Green Knights" ('VK-xx'), based at MCAS Iwakuni (Japan), but temporarily deployed back to CONUS.

Mid-air collision USMC aircraft: USMC accident: F-35B crash, KC-130J emergency landing