The 911 call from the aftermath of an F-35 crash in South Carolina last Sunday was released on Friday, revealing more details about the expensive incident that is still under investigation by the U.S. military.
The call came after the pilot of the F-35 showed up at a house after ejecting from the plane and asked for help. He told a police dispatcher that he did not know where the plane, but said it had went through an “aircraft failure.”
“I guess we’ve got a pilot in our house, and he says he got ejected,” said a local man who called the police.
“I’m sorry — what happened?” the dispatcher replied.
“We’ve 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 before the pilot started talking.
“We have a military jet crash. I’m the pilot. We need to get rescue rolling. I’m not sure where the airplane is,” the pilot can be heard saying.”It would have crash-landed somewhere. I ejected.”
911 call from the pilot who ejected from the F-35 over South Carolina. pic.twitter.com/BovDqALeuH
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) September 22, 2023
After police arrived, the pilot was reportedly transported to a local medical center in stable condition while his wingman safely landed at the base, WCBD reported.
The plane could not initially be found, with military officials asking for the public’s help finding the plane and describing the incident as a “mishap.” Debris from the plane was later located in Williamsburg County on Monday.
The plane, which cost about $100 million, kept going for about 60 miles after the pilot ejected. A spokesperson for Joint Base Charleston said the F-35B Lightning II jet from the Marine Attack Training Squadron was placed on autopilot before the pilot ejected, according to WCIV.
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The conditions of the crash are still under investigation but one Marine Corps official told the Military Times that the pilot was “forced to eject” after a malfunction with the plane.
A recent report from the Government Accountability Office said that the F-35 fighter jets are “mission ready” just over half of the time.
“If the aircraft can only perform 55% of the time and the goal is 85 to 90% of the time, taxpayers are not getting their money’s worth,” said Diana Maurer, the author of the GAO report.