SC - Marine F-35 Jet found after pilot parachutes free, North Charleston, 2023 Sept 18

[shotgun09]

Disclaimer: just for clarification here, I am not a military expert..although I have watched Top Gun a few times.

In saying that, I am having trouble with the phrase " due to weather' as well as 'lost'. Both of those reasons do not equate with a highly trained pilot self ejecting out of a 80-100 Million dollar plane in your own country, knowing the aircraft will auto pilot itself to oblivion. Make it make sense to me, someone?

 

[Elley Mae]

I thought I read there was another jet flying alongside? (a wingman?)

Maybe not close enough for the same bad weather to interfere with both jets, or maybe the other pilot is/was more experienced, or ??

A South Carolina Law Enforcement Division helicopter joined the search for the F-35 after some bad weather cleared in the area, Sergeant Stanton said.

The pilot of a second F-35 returned safely to Joint Base Charleston.

US military hunting for missing fighter jet after pilot ejects

US military officials are appealing for the public's help to find an F-35 aircraft, which a pilot ejected from over South Carolina.

www.abc.net.au

 

[fred&edna]

The pilot of a second F-35 returned safely to Joint Base Charleston.

RSBM

Right... I fully understood that part. I'm questioning why the "bad weather" didn't cause the pilot of second F-35 to eject. Are we to assume he's just a better pilot and knows how to fly an F-35 in bad weather or what?? And, how bad was the weather??

 

[MsMarple]

Could the jet have been hit by lightning?

 

[shotgun09]

Could the jet have been hit by lightning?

I just looked up EMP's. Went down a dark rabbit hole there too.

I guess lightening could have caused the pilot to eject? I am not convinced though. The jet was a costly stealth weapon, that had all the bells and whistles. MOO

 

[cujenn81]

Could the jet have been hit by lightning?

My husband is a huge weather nerd and follows a bunch of meteorologists—both locally and nationally—on YouTube and everywhere else. He was telling me that he read/saw something posted by a local meteorologist in Charleston. The guy said there were popup storms in the area and suspected the pilot may have flown into an area of rotation (mesocyclone?) without realizing it. That could’ve caused the jet to become unstable and eject him automatically. But that was obviously just speculation on his part and probably one of many scenarios he’s considered.

 

[PrairieWind]

Disclaimer: just for clarification here, I am not a military expert..although I have watched Top Gun a few times.

In saying that, I am having trouble with the phrase " due to weather' as well as 'lost'. Both of those reasons do not equate with a highly trained pilot self ejecting out of a 80-100 Million dollar plane in your own country, knowing the aircraft will auto pilot itself to oblivion. Make it make sense to me, someone?

That is perplexing. But as I have read some other articles, i wonder if this is just bad wording. I'm wondering if the "bad weather" "lost in the weather" comments really are related to why they didn't know where the plane went, as opposed to why the whole incident started. Maybe, but not sure.

 

[fred&edna]

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.

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 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.

911 call shows bizarre circumstances of F-35 ejection: 'Not sure where the airplane is,' pilot says

 

[vls12345]

Please watch the video at link of Mr. Randolph White.

‘I heard a boom!’ Williamsburg County man said he heard military jet fly over his rural home before crashing

WILLIAMSBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – A man who lives in a rural portion of Williamsburg County said he heard what we now know was the crash of an unmanned military jet – but at the time, he had no id…

www.counton2.com

Mr. White is awesome.

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.

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 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.

911 call shows bizarre circumstances of F-35 ejection: 'Not sure where the airplane is,' pilot says

The homeowner and dispatcher sure had a weird day. MOO.

Also, from your linked AP article:

"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."

and

"The Marines have described the pilot as an experienced aviator with decades of experience in the cockpit."

 

[fred&edna]

Mr. White is awesome.

The homeowner and dispatcher sure had a weird day. MOO.

RSBM ITA!

And, Madison Mckenzie had a "booming" birthday celebration.