F-35 crashes for 1st time in jet’s history
An Air Force F-35B Lighting II jet like the one above crashed for an unknown reason in South Carolina on Friday.
The U.S. military suffered its first crash of an F-35 aircraft in the 17year history of the high-profile fighter jet program, the same day the Pentagon announced a deal with defense contractor Lockheed Martin to drive down costs for the next batch of planes to a historical low.
The crash of the Marine Corps variant of the F-35, known as the F35B Lightning II, occurred at 11:45 a.m. Friday outside Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina, according to the Marine Corps. The service didn’t give a suspected cause for the crash, saying the incident remained under investigation. “The U.S. Marine pilot safely ejected from the single-seat aircraft and is currently being evaluated by medical personnel,” the Marines said in a statement. “There were no civilian injuries.”
The aircraft, which cost more than $100 million, belonged to Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501, which trains Marine pilots for combat with the F-35. In the past, F-35 jets have made emergency landings, experienced in-flight incidents, including oxygen deprivation among crews, and suffered from engine fires and other failures on the ground. But this is the first time the military has suffered a full-blown crash of an F-35 involving the ejection of a pilot.
A U.S. military official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation remained underway, said the Marine Corps initially classified the crash as a Class A mishap, which is defined as an incident resulting in the complete destruction of the plane, more than $2 million in damage or the fatality or permanent total disability of the crew.
The Pentagon has attributed an increase in aviation mishaps to a mix of causes, including years of stopgap funding from Congress, aging equipment, strained maintenance crews and reduced flying hours for pilots. The Military Times found this year that Marine Corps aviation mishaps had jumped 80 percent over the last five years.