On September 17, the U.S Air Force had a test flight with two F-35 fighter jets in North Charleston, South Carolina. During the test flight, one of the pilots needed to eject from their plane. However, instead of the plane hurdling to the ground and crashing nearby, it disappeared in the sky for a while. According to Maj. Melanie Salinas in a CBS News article on September 18th, the pilot ejected with a parachute and landed safely. He was sent to a local hospital in stable condition shortly after. The second F-35 pilot landed his plane safely back to Joint Base Charleston.
According to the same CBS News article, military personnel and local authorities said the jet was later found in Williamsburg County which is about 2 hours northeast of Joint Base Charleston. They secured the area and told locals to avoid the area.
The pilot of the crashed jet called dispatch after the crash and in a NBC News article by Josh Cradduck and Phil Helsel, the pilot told the dispatcher, “We have a military jet crash. I’m the pilot. We need to get rescue rolling. I’m not sure where the airplane is”. He also told the dispatcher, “It would have crash-landed somewhere. I ejected”(September 22). Thankfully there were no injuries to the pilot nor any civilians.
Some Things to Know About the F-35
The F-35 is a supersonic fighter jet. According to Lockheed Martin website, the F-35C is, “the first and world’s only long-range stealth strike fighter designed and built explicitly for Navy carrier operations”.
It is also one of the most technologically advanced jets in the world. According to the same Lockheed Martin website, “The Active Electronically Scanned Arrays (AESA) radar, Distributed Aperture System (DAS), Electro Optical Targeting System (EOTS) and Helmet Mounted Display System allow the pilot to see everything in the battlespace with unprecedented situational awareness”.
One more detail about the jet is that it is a supersonic jet. This means that the jet is capable of reaching speeds of 1.6 Mach or 1,200 mph, they can achieve this even with a full set of ordinance on board.
You can find more information about the F-35 on the Lockheed Martin website.
