A version of this story appeared in the Threat Status newsletter from The Washington Times. Click here to receive Threat Status delivered directly to your inbox each Wednesday.
A stunning 911 audiotape released late Thursday offered a window into the frantic minutes immediately after the crash of an F-35 fighter jet last Sunday, with the plane’s pilot and the homeowner whose yard he parachuted into pleading with emergency dispatchers to send help immediately.
The recording offers few details on exactly what led to the crash of the $100 million aircraft outside Charleston, South Carolina, or why the F-35 Lightning II continued flying long after the pilot ejected from the cockpit. But the 911 recording does provide insights into just how confusing and chaotic the situation seemed to be.
“I guess we’ve got a pilot in our house and he says he got ejected,” said a Charleston County resident, apparently the homeowner who found the Marine Corps pilot in his backyard.
“I’m sorry, what happened?” the 911 dispatcher said, according to the tape.
“We got a pilot in the house and I guess he landed in my backyard, and we were trying to see if we could get an ambulance to the house,” the resident said.
At the time of the call, it’s likely that the F-35 was still flying over South Carolina. After the dispatcher’s brief conversation with the resident, a man who identified himself as the pilot came on the line.
“We had a military jet crash. I’m the pilot,” the man said. “We need to get rescue rolling. I’m not sure where the airplane is. It would have crash-landed somewhere. I ejected.”
He said he was at an altitude of about 2,000 feet when he ejected and was forced to bail out because of an “aircraft failure.” The pilot’s name has not yet been released.
“I’m OK. My back just hurts,” the pilot said, then asked whether there were any reports of an airplane crash nearby.
“I have not seen any come up yet,” the dispatcher said.
The 911 operator then asked what part of the pilot’s body was injured, sparking a more urgent response.
“Ma’am, I’m the pilot in a military aircraft and I ejected,” he said. “So I just rode a parachute down to the ground. Can you please send an ambulance?”
Witnesses in South Carolina told NBC News this week that the aircraft appeared to be flying almost “inverted” and just 100 feet above treetops before it crashed. It’s unclear why the pilot ejected from the aircraft, nor is it clear why the F-35’s transponder wasn’t working, which prevented the military from easily tracking the plane and locating its debris once it crashed.
It took more than 24 hours to locate the debris field.
Reports of technical problems, cost overruns and behind-schedule maintenance have plagued the F-35 program for years. A Government Accountability Office report released Thursday cast new light on the longstanding maintenance and sustainment issues affecting the F-35’s ability to do its job, though it’s unclear whether those issues played any role in last Sunday’s incident.
“Maintenance challenges negatively affect F-35 aircraft readiness. The F-35 fleet mission capable rate — the percentage of time the aircraft can perform one of its tasked missions — was about 55% in March 2023, far below program goals,” the GAO said in its study.
“This performance was due in part to challenges with depot and organizational maintenance. The program was behind schedule in establishing depot maintenance activities to conduct repairs,” the report said. “As a result, component repair times remained slow with over 10,000 waiting to be repaired — above desired levels. At the same time, organizational-level maintenance has been affected by a number of issues, including a lack of technical data and training.”
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.