For the second time this year, a U.S. military pilot was forced to eject from a $100-million F-35 fighter jet before it crashed and caught fire. The U.S. Navy pilot safely landed in rural Fresno County, California around 6:30 p.m. last night not far from his plane, which could be seen on video spewing black smoke into the air.
The pilot was rushed to the hospital, and — like the U.S. Air Force pilot who ejected from his F-35 fighter jet in Alaska last January — is expected to make a full recovery.
"The operational suitability of the F-35 fleet continues to fall short of Service expectations," a report by the Defense Department's Director, Operational Test and Evaluation said back in January, via CNN — an assessment worth repeating six months later.
From CNN:
The crashed jet was an F-35C, one of three variants of the F-35 Lightning II, designed for use on US aircraft carriers. The US Air Force flies the F-35A while the Marine Corps flies the F-35B, a short takeoff, vertical landing jet.
The crash of the aircraft, priced at around $100 million, was the second of an F-35 this year. An Air Force F-35A crashed at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska in January during a training mission. The pilot also ejected safely in that incident. …
[T]he jet has faced increased scrutiny in recent years over maintenance and readiness issues.
A January 2025 report from the Defense Department's Director, Operational Test and Evaluation shows all variants of the multimillion-dollar jets fail to meet requirements for reliability, maintainability and availability.
An investigation into what caused the crash is underway.
Previously: Incredible video of the fighter jet crashing nose first into the Pacific Ocean yesterday
