{"id":1587631,"date":"2022-08-03T18:10:08","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T22:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1587631"},"modified":"2022-08-03T18:10:13","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T22:10:13","slug":"fact-check-did-the-first-female-f-35-pilot-crash-the-plane-on-her-first-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-did-the-first-female-f-35-pilot-crash-the-plane-on-her-first-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: Did The First Female F-35 Pilot Crash The Plane On Her First Flight?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffact-check-did-the-first-female-f-35-pilot-crash-the-plane-on-her-first-flight%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1587631&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022-07-28T202208Z_1_LYNXMPEI6R0YB_RTROPTP_4_UKRAINE-CRISIS-USA-scaled-e1659533047589.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>A post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/catsilvan\/posts\/pfbid0UWLFzGFWxaWbNzZvn5tFGnhs3NKp6kXHA4htBMnpw2rBKJU4BT2ttasUqaoi3wv6l\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shared on Facebook<\/a> claims the world\u2019s first female F-35 pilot crashed one of the fighter jets on her first flight.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Verdict: Misleading<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>While the woman in the photo is the U.S. Air Force\u2019s first female F-35 pilot, there are no credible news reports to suggest she crashed the plane on its first flight.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Fact Check:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Air Force and other world air fleets grounded most F-35 fighter jets due to a technical issue with ejection seats that was first discovered in April, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2022\/07\/29\/air-force-grounds-f-35as-as-ejection-seat-issue-threatens-fighter-jets-worldwide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Air Force Times<\/a>. Approximately five \u201ccategory 1\u201d flaws have been discovered in the most recent versions of the aircraft, the <a href=\"https:\/\/eurasiantimes.com\/f-35-fighters-are-plagued-by-4-category-1-flaws\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">EurAsian Times<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>The Facebook image features two screen grabs of purported articles about the first female F-35 pilot. The first is a 2019 article from the website <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wearethemighty.com\/mighty-history\/the-first-female-f-35-pilot-proves-flying-is-a-gender-equalizer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">We Are The Mighty<\/a> with a headline that reads, \u201cThe first female F-35 pilot proves flying is a gender equalizer.\u201d The second shows a 2022 post from the online blog <a href=\"https:\/\/avia-pro.net\/news\/pervaya-v-mire-zhenshchina-pilot-istrebitelya-f-35-razbila-samolyot-v-pervom-zhe-polyote\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Avia.pro<\/a> titled, \u201cThe world\u2019s first female F-35 fighter pilot crashed a plane on its first flight.\u201d Both posts feature images of the same woman in a pilot jumpsuit.<\/p>\n<p>While the woman in the photos is the first female F-35 pilot, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aetc.af.mil\/News\/Article-Display\/Article\/1110795\/so-others-may-dream\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lt. Col. Christine Mau<\/a>, the claim that she crashed the plane is baseless. Mau began her F-35 training in 2015 and flew successfully, according to an Air Force <a href=\"https:\/\/www.af.mil\/News\/Article-Display\/Article\/587937\/first-female-f-35-pilot-begins-training\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">press release<\/a>. \u201cLt. Col. Christine Mau, the 33rd Fighter Wing Operations Group deputy commander, completed her first training flight in the single-seat fifth-generation fighter following 14 virtual training missions in the full mission simulator at the F-35 Academic Training Center,\u201d reads part of the release. It mentions no crash.<\/p>\n<p>The Avia.pro article appears to reference a crash involving an F-35 jet that occurred earlier this year on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson, injuring seven, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/01\/24\/politics\/f-35-pilot-eject-south-china-sea\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CNN.<\/a> Mau was not identified as the pilot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was the first woman to fly the F-35 in 2015,\u201d said Mau in a message to Check Your Fact. \u201cI flew only the F-35A in the US Air Force. This accident occurred in January 2022 and was a US Navy F-35C. Since I retired from the Air Force in 2017 and have not flown the F-35 since, nor was I ever in the Navy nor have I ever landed on a carrier, this is very clearly not me. The pilot in question was not even a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for the U.S. Navy likewise told Check Your Fact the viral Facebook claim was \u201cmisinformation\u201d in an email. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/checkyourfact.com\/2022\/03\/07\/fact-check-ukraine-russia-fighter-jet-escort\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: FACT CHECK: Does This Photo Show <\/a><\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/checkyourfact.com\/2022\/03\/07\/fact-check-ukraine-russia-fighter-jet-escort\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fighter Jets Escorting An Aircraft Carrying Military Equipment For Ukraine?)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Check Your Fact has reached out to the U.S. Air Force for comment and will update this piece accordingly if one is received.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A post shared on Facebook claims the world\u2019s first female F-35 pilot crashed one of the fighter jets on her first flight.Verdict: MisleadingWhile the woman in the photo is the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1587631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1587631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1587631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1587631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1587631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1587631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1587631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}