A US Marine Corps F-35B crashed today South Carolina, near Marine Corp Air Station Beaufort, the US military has confirmed.

The pilot is believed to have ejected but his status is unknown, the official said. The F-35B conducted its first-ever airstrike on Thursday.

This is the first time an F-35 has crashed. The sheriff’s office said in a tweet here that the pilot ejected safely. It wasn’t immediately clear if the pilot was injured.

More on this as it develops.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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17 COMMENTS

  1. Talk about taking the wind out of your sail, this is sad news. Let’s hope the pilot is okay? There is always a first, but these incidents can halt immediate operation unless there are clear reasons for the crash. Bang goes the QE F35 trials, if the cause is unknown?

    • I don’t mean to be cold but in reality it’s the reverse. Pilot is a lot cheaper and faster to replace than the jet.

      For sure if I had a choice between pilot and plane, I would go pilot everyone but if you look at it as a maths puzzle you choose the reverse.

      • That’s more than cold that is brutal. The pilot is the most important of the pairing. The jet can and will be replaced. A Human beings life is precious and priceless

      • Well, it would cost in the region of $10 to $20 million to train a pilot, including the simulator and flying hours, plus combat training. So even with a brutal look at it, the loss of a pilot is very expensive.

        Anyways, glad he got out, hope he’s OK.

      • well its unlikely you could lose the pilot but have the plane land safely – so realistically the pilot ejecting safely is the best outcome of a bad situation

      • The economic cost is irrelevant to replacability. it’s easy to build another plane ( although it may cost more money than to train a pilot). The mothers son/daughter, sister/Brother, father/mother friend and colleague could never be replace and would forever leave behind an irreparable void in the lives of main.

        If the cost in these cases is only money one does not truly overly much care ( money after all is no more or less than the symbolic represention of labour), this loss of time on ect will be an issue, but one thing I have learnt in life “if no one died or suffered long term significant harm its all just a learning experience”.

        Thoughts to the pilot and their family.

          • Plus it’s not 22 pilots-under-construction going in at year one and 22 fully qualified pilots coming out at the end of year 22. I’m not sure what the attrition rate is, either from dropping out or due to other factors such as being seduced by a much bigger paycheck somewhere along the journey, but I assume it’s pretty significant.

      • Look to the lessons of war. When industry ramps up to defend one’s country there is never a shortage of planes coming off the production line, there is ALWAYS a shortage of good pilots and a surfeit of average ones who become casualties. This argument is true in all cases.

        The loss of a highly trained and skilled pilot cannot be measured against a machine that can be produced anytime you wish to simply order more.

  6. Sorry news but nice to know the Pilot is safe. Such accidents are inevitable and it must be said that the F35 has had an excellent safety record to date notwithstanding development issues and relatively small number of operating hours thus far

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