SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The F-35B fighter jet that a pilot safely ejected from Friday has been involved in relatively few mishaps, according to a retired Air Force accident investigator.
“Mechanically the airplane seems to be pretty sound,” said Rich Martindell, who flew fighter jets as a pilot and also investigated their flaws in accident investigations.
Martindell spoke to us next to MCAS Miramar as firefighters worked to put out hot spots from the F-35B that crashed Friday around 10 a.m.
“The fire is totally natural. With the fuel on board, you're going to have a fire. With all this dry brush, they did a good job of putting it out quickly,” Martindell said.
It was clear to Martindell from seeing the wreckage that the F-35B clearly hit short of the runway at Miramar.
He said the plane, which costs about $100 million, is still considered to be relatively new to the Marine Corps.
“It is unique because the engine configuration is completely different.”
The pilot ejected and was taken to a nearby medical facility Friday morning in stable condition, the Marine Corps said in a statement that provided no further details on what led to the mishap.
The F-35 has stealth capabilities that its manufacturer says make it the most lethal fighter jet in the world.
There are three versions of the aircraft (A, B and C) that are used by the Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy.
The F-35B that crashed at Miramar can land vertically like a helicopter.
“As far as I know, this has a very good safety record. Looking at the aircraft statistics, it's less than two accidents per hundred thousand hours. A lot of fighters run as high as five accidents per hundred thousand hours, so this is a safe airplane,” said Martindell.
Some previous mishaps involving the F-35B have been blamed on faulty fuel tubes and other parts.
Martindell said in the coming days, military investigators will review the fighter jet’s maintenance history and the pilot’s training records as they work to determine what went wrong.
