Posted on 09/20/2023 3:40:05 PM PDT by dynachrome
The pilot who ejected from a $100 million F-35 fighter jet claimed to have lost the plane in the weather — and likely bailed out before he could activate its tracking system, sources and experts said.
“He’s unsure of where his plane crashed, said he just lost it in the weather,” a voice can be heard saying of the pilot on a Charleston County Emergency Medical Services call posted Tuesday by a meteorologist.
The unidentified pilot landed in a North Charleston residential neighborhood and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
He has since been discharged.
Military officials have not yet released a specific reason for the pilot’s hasty exit, only referring to the incident as stemming from a “malfunction.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
“Here I am in a nice dry, warm plane that’s still flying…. But those clouds look bad, I’ll probably be better off outside.”
There's no 'on' button to a cell phone but a multi million dollar piece of military war plane ?
Sixty miles away, eh? He must have done all he could to save the plane or people on the ground. Or he was bored. Oh, well, just another $100 million down in flames. He’ll be up in the air again in no time with a brand-new F-35, I’m sure.
I’d add “Who shot Boo?” to that list.
The article contradicts the headline. But the clicks are probably really good.
C-130s were designed with slide rules, not computers. Makes for a far better aircraft.
Yeah, and the chef fell off his paddleboard.
Another whopper b.s. story to placate the American public.
“Was he instrument rated? Don’t those planes fly themselves?”
Flying an F35 and NOT instrument rated?
I hate it when I misplace my jet.
Yes, Climate Change claimed another victim. But President Biden promised an executive order that fighter pilots ONLY fly during calm sunny weather. Once again proving Biden is for the little people.
Where did they find him?
Good one! I hadn’t seen that one brought up yet, but that’s a classic. May be an age thing with other commenters out there.
“>>was probably a woman pilot
With a suspected spider in the cockpit.”
A good possibility as well. I once almost vacated my vehicle at 45 mph because of a wasp. Yes, it was on the other side of the car, busy buzzing at the window and therefore nowhere near me, but it COULD have come my way! I finally realized that I could just push the window “down” button for the passenger side and it would fly out. I did and it did but I quickly closed the window in case it decided to return.
Out in rural South Carolina near the crash site.
I looked it up and did some math. The county is something like 937 sq miles and 32,000 people, about 1 person / 18 acres. And a lot of them live in towns. It’s why it took them a day to find the crash site, there’s a lot of farm fields and no people.
Given that the pilot was flying in tandem with another plane, which apparently returned to base rather than follow the plane, this excuse makes absolutely no sense. Did the other pilot not suffer the same turbulent weather? Aren’t pilots taught to fly in bad weather conditions if necessary?
According to the photograph with the article I’m not surprised that they had a hard time finding the F-35, when folks are given pictures of Polish Mig-29’s as the “missing aircraft.”
Haha! I like that guy :-))
‘The Man Who Rode The Thunder’ by William H. Rankin Lt. Col., USMC.
His F8U flamed out at ≈50,000 ft over a thunderhead. Took him 40 minutes of falling through rain, hail, thunder and lightning to get back to the ground...
I think you win this one.
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