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U.S. pilot ejects as $100 million F-35 fighter jet crashes — 2nd time this year [1]

['Carla Sinclair']

Date: 2025-07-31

For the second time this year, a U.S. military pilot was forced to eject from a $100-million F-35 fighter jet before it crashed and caught fire. The U.S. Navy pilot safely landed in rural Fresno County, California around 6:30 p.m. last night not far from his plane, which could be seen on video spewing black smoke into the air.

The pilot was rushed to the hospital, and — like the U.S. Air Force pilot who ejected from his F-35 fighter jet in Alaska last January — is expected to make a full recovery.

"The operational suitability of the F-35 fleet continues to fall short of Service expectations," a report by the Defense Department's Director, Operational Test and Evaluation said back in January, via CNN — an assessment worth repeating six months later.

From CNN: The crashed jet was an F-35C, one of three variants of the F-35 Lightning II, designed for use on US aircraft carriers. The US Air Force flies the F-35A while the Marine Corps flies the F-35B, a short takeoff, vertical landing jet. The crash of the aircraft, priced at around $100 million, was the second of an F-35 this year. An Air Force F-35A crashed at Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska in January during a training mission. The pilot also ejected safely in that incident. … [T]he jet has faced increased scrutiny in recent years over maintenance and readiness issues. A January 2025 report from the Defense Department's Director, Operational Test and Evaluation shows all variants of the multimillion-dollar jets fail to meet requirements for reliability, maintainability and availability.

An investigation into what caused the crash is underway.

Previously: Incredible video of the fighter jet crashing nose first into the Pacific Ocean yesterday



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