Pilot error is blamed for the crash of a military jet in South Carolina that was missing for more than a day

COLUMBIA, S.C. – A Navy investigation accused the pilot of a modern fighter jet of ejecting from the plane when he didn't need it, causing the F-35 to fly unmanned for 11 minutes before crashing in rural South Carolina last year.

Military officials were unable to find the jet or its wreckage for more than 24 hours. The investigative report released Thursday blamed the $100 million plane's stealth technology, as well as a malfunctioning transponder and the plane's low-altitude system that automatically stabilizes flight without a pilot's control.

The jet suffered multiple system failures when the pilot attempted to land at Joint Base Charleston in heavy rain after a 50-minute training flight with another F-35 in September 2023.

Lightning had been reported nearby and the aircraft suffered an “electrical event” that caused its radios, transponders and flight navigation system to malfunction. The pilot's helmet display also flickered on and off three times. The exact nature of what happened was redacted in the report released to the public.

The pilot then said he had no idea where he was in relation to the ground and wasn't sure which instruments he could trust, so he decided to eject.

However, Navy investigators concluded that there was no reason to abandon the plane because the computer was still controlling the flight, as evidenced by the jet being airborne without a pilot for more than 100 kilometers and 11 minutes stayed.

According to the report, the standby instruments were still providing accurate data and the backup radio was still working at least partially.

The report said investigators were not sure what data the pilot received or what he saw in his helmet just before and at the time of his ejectment because the crash recorder did not record that information.

The 47-year-old pilot survived the crash on September 17, 2023, parachuting into the backyard of a North Charleston home and telling the stunned homeowner to call 911.

He told the operator that his back hurt, but he was otherwise fine. The pilot was not identified in the roughly 400 pages, some heavily redacted, that the Marine Corps published about the crash.

Parts of the report are also carefully worded. Investigators wrote that the jet was difficult to find and the “loss of positive contact was also due in part to the F-35B's low observable technology.”

The missing jet sparked a media storm. Memes put images of F-35s on missing posters and milk cartons. The Marines tried carefully to explain how a $100 million aircraft with many secret components could disappear.

The strangeness of the crash was expressed in the heavily colloquial military reports. A situation report from the afternoon after the crash lists dozens of priorities: “1.A.1 Locate missing F-35 aircraft.”

The jet crashed in rural Williamsburg County. It took 17 days to collect and examine the debris and clean up fuel spills and other hazards from the forest, costing more than $2.1 million, the report said.