ALBAWABA — An F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter crashed Friday at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California. The U.S. Marine Corps said the pilot successfully ejected before the aircraft went down.
The Marine Corps said the pilot survived by deploying the aircraft’s emergency ejection system. The incident has been declared a Class A aviation mishap, the military’s designation for the most serious forms of aircraft accidents.
Video from the crash site showed thick black smoke billowing from the wreckage as rescue responders and military troops attempted to suppress the flames. As they secured the area, firefighters also spread fire-suppressant materials around the debris field.
The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department stated its crews reacted to a fire that broke out near the crash site shortly after the plane went down.
That crash was the seventh documented mishap involving a U.S. military aircraft this year, aviation safety data show. The tragedy comes after many previous mishaps involving military aircraft in 2026, including the fatal crash of a B-52 bomber in California’s Mojave Desert in June that killed all eight individuals on board.
The cause of the F-35 crash has not been released yet and an investigation into the incident is ongoing.
