U.S. asks for help finding missing F-35 fighter jet after pilot ejects during ‘mishap’
A U.S. fighter jet’s stealth abilities appear to be working too well, with authorities forced to ask the public for help finding an F-35 that went missing somewhere over South Carolina when the pilot ejected because of a “mishap.”
Joint Base Charleston, an air base in North Charleston, said it was working with Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort to “locate an F-35 that was involved in a mishap” Sunday afternoon.
The pilot was able to safely eject from the aircraft, an F-35B Lightning II jet, and was taken to a local medical center in stable condition, it said in a Facebook post around 5:35 p.m. ET.
The jet was left in autopilot mode when the pilot ejected from the aircraft, so there’s a possibility it could still be airborne, Jeremy Huggins, a spokesman at Joint Base Charleston, told NBC News over the phone.
However, he said, searchers were focusing their attention north of the air base around Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion based on the jet’s last-known position and coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration.
Asked whether that meant that officials believed the jet could have crashed, Huggins said he was unable to elaborate, but that more information would be forthcoming. The FAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The circumstances that prompted the pilot to eject from the aircraft were not immediately clear.
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GUNS N GEAR
What Col. Bortman! You’ve lost another F-35? The Marines need their own aircraft procurement conduit. No more $100mn luxury Harriers! Back to basics! Fighter bombers, and ground attack….that work. Come hell, or high water, or bad weather!
It was the Marines’ insistence on retarded S/VTOL ‘requirement’ that fucked this design from the get go. Chair Force procured masterpieces like F-4, F-15 , F-16 , F-22 and A-10. Navy likewise with F-14 and variants of F-18. The Marines should be procuring nothing but naval infantry equipment like every other normal country.
The heist of the century.
Shit show, clown world is!
Planned obsolescence false flag. The Pentagram needed one to go missing to give to our adversaries. MIC needs to get rid of the F35 pile of overpriced junk to move onto the next new latest-greatest pile of overpriced junk to buy with their soon to be rubberstamped multi-trillion $ defense dept. cash giveaway.
I personally think it got hacked and the pilot could no longer control the aircraft so he ejected.
Agreed Patriotman. Clown world is one upped once again by the chess masters!
I provided this comment on another discussion about this elsewhere. I’ll drop it here as well for whatever it’s worth.
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Aircraft can and have flown significant distances after the pilot has left the aircraft.
The most logical explanation would be that the aircraft had the autopilot engaged when he punched out. If the aircraft wasn’t knocked into an uncontrolled state, and it probably wouldn’t have been, it would have continued to fly in the mode it was left in until it ran out of fuel. If the autopilot wasn’t engaged but the aircraft was properly trimmed the result could be quite similar.
Why would a pilot punch out of a controllable aircraft? Hard to say as it could have been intentional or unintentional. Early in their fielding, two F-16s were lost while their pilots were attempting to take a leak while cruising at altitude. If it was unintentional the facts will come out and changes will be made (possibly the reason for the USMC stand-down). If it was intentional, well . . . .
We all remember that Learjet that flew halfway across the country after its’ pilots became incapacitated. Autopilot.
The most bizarre instance of this happening was a T-38 that had inadvertently gotten into an unrecoverable spin. When the pilot got to the minimum ejection altitude (usually 10,000′ AGL for an out of control aircraft) he punched out. When he departed the aircraft his weight no longer being in the aircraft shifted the center of gravity, the nose dropped, and the aircraft recovered itself. The pilot was left hanging in his chute and watched his aircraft fly off into sunset, metaphorically speaking.
The truth will be found out. Whether we’ll hear that truth is another story.
Matt
This was obviously an inside job the plane was flown remotely straight to China and the Big guy gets 10 percent.
Now after 20 billion wasted for the navy to search for two months because it must have crashed into the sea and will never be found.
I’m sure China will have the same plane in a year.
From a Marine who is still in, the rumor has it that it was a Colonel flying as a student . That could explain a lot.
Matt