Authorities Search for Missing F-35 Jet After Pilot Ejected Over South Carolina
The pilot, whose name has not been released, parachuted safely Sunday into a neighborhood in the coastal city of Charleston, and remains in stable condition after being taken to a nearby hospital.
The aircraft is thought to be somewhere in north Charleston, and military officials requested in online posts for the public’s assistance in locating it.
“If you have any information that may help our recovery teams locate the F-35, please call the Base Defense Operations Center,” Joint Base Charleston wrote on X, formally known as Twitter.
The circumstances for what caused the accident are unclear and currently under investigation, according to Corporal Christian Cortez.
The jet was flying as part of a fighter jet training exercise out of a U.S. Marine Corps air station in nearby Beaufort, which has been working with Joint Base Charleston to locate the missing plane.
The search has focused primarily on two lakes near North Charleston — Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion — after it was determined that those were the most likely crash locations based on the trajectory of the aircraft, according to Senior Master Sgt. Heather Stanton at Joint Base Charleston.
The search has since been joined by a police helicopter that was previously grounded by bad weather.
Some of the information in this article came from the Associated Press and Reuters.