F-35B Stealth Fighter Crashes in California, Pilot Ejects Safely
L'essentiel
- An F-35B stealth fighter jet crashed near Miramar airbase in San Diego, California.
- The pilot safely ejected and was transported to a medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the US Marine Corps.
Résumé généré par IA
Pourquoi c'est important
An F-35B stealth fighter crashed near San Diego's Miramar airbase; the pilot ejected safely. The F-35B, designed for short takeoffs/vertical landings, costs about $109m per unit.
An F-35B stealth fighter plane has crashed in California, but its pilot ejected and is expected to survive, the US Marine Corps said.
The jet went down on Friday near the Miramar airbase in San Diego. “The pilot ejected, was transported to a local medical facility in stable condition for evaluation and treatment of non-life-threatening injuries,” the Marine Corps said in a statement.
Aerial video from a news helicopter showed a plume of black smoke rising from the wreckage in a dirt field, with multiple military and firefighting vehicles and people standing nearby. What appeared to be white flame retardant covered the ground, and at least one person was spraying the wreckage with a fire hose.
Candace Hadley, a spokesperson for San Diego Fire, said firefighters were on scene to respond to a vegetation fire that sparked near the crash site. She referred additional questions to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
The base used to host the Navy fighter pilot training school depicted in the original Top Gun movie and was known as “Fightertown USA” in its heyday. The school was relocated to Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada in 1996 after the base was transferred to the Marine Corps.
The US Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force together have more than 630 F-35s, according to a 2024 analysis by the Government Accountability Office. The F-35B is one of several versions, and has an engine designed for short takeoffs and vertical landings. A single F-35B costs about $109m. The report estimated that the overall F-35 programme will cost roughly $2 trillion after the military buys more than 1,800 more jets and operates them for decades to come.
At least seven other military aircraft have crashed in the United States this year, according to the Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety Network database.
Questions ouvertes
- What caused the F-35B crash?
- What is the extent of the damage to the aircraft?
- What are the specific findings of the crash investigation?
