911 Call Reveals Peculiar F-35 Ejection: Pilot Uncertain of Aircraft’s Location.
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.: Pilot’s Mysterious 911 Call After Fighter Jet Goes Missing
A military pilot whose advanced fighter jet went temporarily missing over the weekend is heard repeatedly requesting an ambulance in a perplexing 911 call from the South Carolina home where he had parachuted to safety, according to an audio recording released Thursday to The Associated Press.
The four-minute recording captures the bizarre circumstances for the three unidentified people involved: a North Charleston resident calmly explaining that a pilot just parachuted into his backyard, the pilot who doesn’t know what became of his F-35 jet, and a puzzled dispatcher trying to make sense of it all.
“We got a pilot in the house, and I guess he landed in my backyard, and we’re trying to see if we could get an ambulance to the house, please,” the resident said.
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The pilot, who said he was 47, reported feeling “OK” after falling what he estimated was 2,000 feet. Only his back hurt, he said. The resident said the pilot looked fine.
“Ma’am, a military jet crashed. I’m the pilot. We need to get rescue rolling,” the pilot said. “I’m not sure where the airplane is. It would have crash landed somewhere. I ejected.”
Later in the call, he made another plea for medical help.
“Ma’am, I’m a pilot in a military aircraft, and I ejected. So I just rode a parachute down to the ground. Can you please send an ambulance?” the pilot said.
The Marines have described the pilot as an experienced aviator with decades of experience in the cockpit.
The F-35 crashed Sunday after a malfunction prompted the pilot to eject over Charleston and land in the residential backyard not far from Charleston International Airport.
The fighter jet, which the Marine Corps said was at an altitude of only about 1,000 feet (300 meters), kept flying for 60 miles (100 kilometers) until it crashed in a rural area near Indiantown. It took more than a day to locate the wreckage.
In a separate eight-minute dispatch call released Thursday to the AP, an unidentified official tried explaining that they had “a pilot with his parachute” but no information about what happened to his plane or word of a crash. He said “the pilot lost sight of it on his way down due to the weather.”
The official also recalled hearing a “rather loud noise” about 25 minutes prior that “sounded something like a tornado, possibly a plane.”
The Marine Corps said Thursday that a feature on fighter jets intended to protect pilots in emergencies could explain how the F-35 managed to continue its travels. They said that while it was unclear why the jet kept flying, flight control software would have worked to keep it steady if there were no longer a pilot’s hands on the controls.
“If the jet is stable in level flight, the jet will attempt to stay there. If it was in an established climb or descent, the jet will maintain a 1G state in that climb or descent until commanded to do something else,” the Marine Corps said in a statement. “This is designed to save our pilots if they are incapacitated or lose situational awareness.”
Other questions about the crash remained, notably why the plane wasn’t tracked as it continued flying over South Carolina and how it could take more than a day to find a massive fighter jet that had flown over populated, although rural, areas.
The Marines said features that erase a jet’s secure communications in case of an ejection—a feature designed to protect both the pilot’s location and the plane’s classified systems—may also have complicated efforts to find it.
“Normally, aircraft are tracked via radar and transponder codes,” the Marines said. “Upon pilot ejection, the aircraft is designed to erase (or ‘zeroize’) all secure communication.”
The plane would have kept broadcasting an identifier on an open channel to identify itself as friend or foe—but even on an unclassified communications channel air traffic control may not have been able to pick up the signal depending on how powerful its radar was, the weather at the time, how high the plane was flying and the terrain, the Marines said. They said thunderstorms and low cloud ceilings further hampered the search for the plane.
“When coupled with the F-35’s stealth capabilities, tracking the jet had to be done through non-traditional means,” the service said in its statement.
The incident is still under investigation and results from an official review board could take months.
However, the Marines said the feature that kept the plane flying may not only have saved the life of the pilot but of others on the ground.
“The good news is it appeared to work as advertised. The other bit of silver lining in this case is that through the F-35 flying away it avoided crashing into a densely populated area surrounding the airport, and fortunately crashed into an empty field and forested area,” the statement said.
How can the safety and reliability of fighter jets be improved based on the findings of the investigation into this incident?
Hey are incapacitated or unable to control the aircraft.”
The investigation into the incident is ongoing, with the Marine Corps working alongside federal authorities to determine the cause of the malfunction and assess the extent of the damage to the fighter jet.
The incident has raised concerns about the safety and reliability of advanced fighter jets. The F-35, a fifth-generation stealth aircraft, is known for its advanced technology and capabilities. However, incidents like this highlight the potential risks and vulnerabilities that come with operating such complex machines.
This is not the first time a military pilot has had to eject from a fighter jet. In a similar incident earlier this year, a Navy pilot ejected from an F-5 jet off the coast of Florida and was successfully rescued. These incidents serve as a reminder of the bravery and skill of our military pilots, who put their lives on the line to protect our country.
As the investigation continues, it is crucial that the findings are used to improve the safety and reliability of fighter jets, ensuring the well-being of our pilots and the success of our military operations. The incident also highlights the importance of emergency response systems and coordination between different agencies in such situations.
Overall, the mysterious 911 call made by the pilot in North Charleston, South Carolina, after his fighter jet went missing raises questions about the reliability and safety of advanced fighter jets. It serves as a reminder of the risks involved in military operations and emphasizes the need for continuous improvement in aircraft technology and emergency response systems.
Our thoughts are with the pilot and his family as the investigation into the incident unfolds.
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