The pilot of an F-35 fighter jet that briefly went lacking in September 2023 earlier than crashing made an “inappropriate” resolution in ejecting from the plane, a Marine Corps investigation concluded.
The report launched Thursday blamed the crash of the roughly $100 million plane on pilot error as a result of “the pilot incorrectly identified an out-of-controlled flight emergency and ejected from a flyable plane, albeit underneath extraordinarily difficult cognitive and flight situations.”
On September 17, 2023, the pilot ejected from the F-35 throughout a heavy rainstorm and after experiencing a sequence {of electrical} and show malfunctions. The F-35 continued to fly by itself for 11 minutes and 21 seconds for a distance of about 70 miles, army officers mentioned.
The pilot landed in a driveway, in keeping with the investigation, after which knocked on the door of the house owner to name 911 and report the lacking F-35. The crash web site was positioned a day later in a rural space close to Hemmingway, South Carolina.
Earlier than it crashed, the F-35 “plowed” by means of a dense forest, the investigation mentioned. The particles area was roughly 1,800 toes lengthy by roughly 300 toes at its widest level amid dense forest, cotton, and soybean fields.
Marine Corps
The investigation attributed the F-35’s prolonged flight to the automated flight-control methods in F-35s and mentioned the Marine Corps briefly misplaced monitor of it on radar as a result of it was flying low, had a damaged transponder, and in addition partly due to the F-35s’ low-observable or stealth know-how.
Marine Corps photograph from report
Earlier than ejecting, the pilot skilled an “electrical occasion” throughout flight that prompted failures to radios, the transponder, the tactical air navigation system and the instrument touchdown system. However backup methods kicked in that saved the plane “flyable,” in keeping with army officers, particularly contemplating that “the plane continued to fly an prolonged interval after ejection.”
There have been no accidents on the bottom, however the crash prompted property injury to non-public forested land and crops, the investigation mentioned.
The investigation doesn’t suggest any punishment for the crash.
