An F-35 fighter jet crashed at Eielson Air Force Base; the pilot was uninjured and it’s not been announced whether or not he ejected. The crash on the runway occurred at about 1 p.m. The weather is cloudy, calm, and the air temperature is about 2 degrees Fahrenheit.
The F-35s are part of the 355th Fighter Squadron and the 356th Fighter Squadron. The first F-35s were positioned at Eielson Air Force Base on April 21, 2020, after the base was chosen in 2016 to house the stealth fighter jets.
Emergency vehicles, personnel, and equipment are on the scene.
This story will be updated.
And just like that the military lost a $100,000,000, I hope Pete Hegseth will fully investigate pilot to make sure he hadn’t been given any preferential treatment.
The video of the crash posted on X shows the pilot coming down on a chute. It was definitely uncontrolled flight- Airplane was a lawn dart.
Correction: F-16s were unofficially referred to as lawn darts during the early days of flying them. Cheers –
What a complete joke that overdesigned, overcomplexified and unrealiable F-35 “Flying White Elephant” truly is.
Most always the FAA claims ‘Pilot Error’ initially anyway.
It’s never that way for the military though. Granted, this pilot was flying an over-priced and somewhat new wave Geek-engineered albatross, so I must reserve commentary on causality!
The aircraft was in a Stall-Spin though for sure.