Overview
- A U.S. Marine Corps F-35B assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 11 went down near MCAS Miramar on Friday and the pilot ejected and was taken to a local medical facility with non-life-threatening injuries.
- Aerial and helicopter footage showed wreckage split into large sections and a charred, roughly football-field-sized impact area where military crews and San Diego Fire-Rescue extinguished a vegetation fire.
- The Marine Corps officially classified the event as a Class A mishap, a designation that applies when an aircraft is destroyed or damage exceeds military reporting thresholds.
- Military investigators have opened an inquiry and will convene a formal board of inquiry to examine flight data, maintenance records, and eyewitness accounts to determine the cause.
- The F-35B is the short-takeoff/vertical-landing variant of the costly F-35 family so the loss raises questions about maintenance, spare parts and operational availability across the fleet.