F 35 Missing

An F-35 military aeroplane ( f 35 missing ) whose pilot ejected over South Carolina and went missing has been located by military officials.

F 35 Missing

F 35 Cost

According to authorities ( f 35 missing ), the wreckage of the $100 million (£80 million) plane, which vanished on Sunday afternoon, was found in rural Williamsburg County.

The pilot made an emergency exit from the cockpit and parachuted to safety in a community in North Charleston.

To aid in locating the jet, the public had been contacted.

Military officials said the debris was discovered "two hours north-east of Joint Base Charleston" in a statement on Monday.

Authorities had concentrated their searches near Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion, north of Charleston, the last place the plane was seen.

A military spokesperson told the BBC that the wreckage of the missing plane was indeed among the debris that had been discovered.

The Marine Corps said on Monday after the search was over, "The incident is currently under investigation, and we are unable to provide additional details to preserve the integrity of the investigative process."

In order to facilitate the work of the investigators, the public has been urged to stay away from the area.

A spokesman for Joint Base Charleston told NBC News that the fighter jet was in autopilot when the pilot ejected and that it may have been in the air for some time, making its discovery more difficult.

In the course of the hunt for the plane, JJ Gertler, a senior analyst at the Teal Group, a defence consultancy, told the BBC that "a plausible sequence of events is that when pilot ejected, electronics for transponder were fried and the military was no longer able to track its location."

Although it was "extremely unlikely," he acknowledged that it was feasible for the aircraft to continue to fly after the pilot evacuated because of "the damage aircraft would have received from the ejection seat" and "change in aerodynamics when the canopy is gone."

According to US media, the FB-35B Lightning II aircraft belonged to Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501, which works to train pilots.

The injured pilot was transported to a hospital and was listed in stable condition. During the same flight, a second F-35 made a safe return to base.

Joint Base Charleston had published a request for assistance to locate the aircraft on X, then known as Twitter.

Online satire of the request and criticism from lawmakers followed.

How the hell do you lose an F-35, questioned Nancy Mace, a Republican representative from South Carolina, on X, formerly Twitter?

We're urging the public to, "Find a jet and turn it in," but there isn't a tracking device.

The aircraft is a stealth jet, which means that its airframe, sensors, and systems are built to function without being picked up by hostile radar.

When the plane's fuel ran out, the site of the accident may have been known if it was heading to pre-planned waypoints.

Knowing its speed and altitude at the time of ejection, as well as how much fuel was still in the tank, would have made locating it a straightforward mathematical exercise.

The US Marine Corps said earlier on Monday that all air activities this week will be suspended for two days.

Officials intend to "discuss aviation safety matters and best practises" this week, according to a Marine Corps press statement from Monday.

According to the report, the missing jet constituted the third "Class-A mishap" in the previous six weeks, a category of occurrence that results in damage of more than $2.5 million. It didn't go into detail about earlier events.

Three Marines lost their lives in an Osprey tilt-rotor plane accident in August, and a fourth Marine was killed when his jet crashed during a training exercise close to San Diego.

Following a mishap in South Carolina in 2018, the US military temporarily grounded its entire fleet of F-35 aircraft.

How in check?

Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina, expressed the sentiment of everyone who read the headline about the cutting-edge military aircraft that vanished earlier in the day after its pilot ejected and parachuted to safety when she asked, "How in the check do you lose an F-35?" in a post on social media on Sunday. According to the Marine Corps and a defence official with knowledge of the search, the plane's wreckage field was spotted around two hours northeast of Joint Base Charleston.

F35 Crash Charleston

Since the jet's pilot, whose identity has not been made public, parachuted to safety into a North Charleston neighbourhood on Sunday at 2 p.m., authorities have been looking for the aircraft. He was transferred to the hospital, where Marines Maj. Melanie Salinas reported that his status was stable.

The Marine Corps stated in a news release on Monday evening that "the incident is currently being investigated, and we are unable to provide additional details to preserve integrity of investigative process."

After the fighter plane crashed, the Marine Corps made an earlier announcement on Monday that it would halt aviation operations for two days. This was the third expensive accident in recent weeks.

The Marine Corps' acting commandant, Gen. Eric Smith, issued the order to stand down while search crews looked for the missing FB-35B Lightning II plane near two South Carolina lakes.

According to a Marine Corps release, it is the third incident that has been classified as a "Class-A mishap" in the last six weeks. A Department of Defence aircraft is destroyed, there is a death or permanent disability, or there are damages of $2.5 million or more.

According to the Monday announcement, commanders will use the stand-down to reaffirm safe flying policies, practises, and procedures with their Marines.

No information on the first two occurrences was provided in the announcement. But in August, a V-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft crash in Australia during a training exercise claimed the lives of three American Marines, and a Marine Corps pilot was killed when his combat jet crashed during a training mission close to a facility in San Diego.

The circumstances behind the pilot's decision to eject from the plane on Sunday are being looked into, according to Cpl. Christian Cortez, a Marine with the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing.

According to Senior Master Sgt. Heather Stanton at Joint Base Charleston, the search was first concentrated on Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion based on the location and trajectory of the missing plane. North of North Charleston are both lakes.

After some nasty weather passed over the region, a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division chopper joined the search, according to Stanton. Military representatives requested the public's assistance in locating the aircraft in internet posts published on Sunday.

According to Salinas, the pilot of a second F-35 made a safe landing at Joint Base Charleston.

The 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing's Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 was headquartered in Beaufort, close to the South Carolina coast, and was responsible for the aircraft.