San Diego: A United States Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter jet crashed near Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego on Friday morning, triggering a localized brush fire before the aviator ejected safely. The military aircraft, assigned to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and Marine Aircraft Group 11, went down around 10:00 a.m. local time in an incident official defense personnel categorized as a Class A mishap.
First Lieutenant Blake Starbuck confirmed that the pilot successfully ejected from the advanced fighter jet and was recovered shortly after impact. Emergency services subsequently transported the aviator to a nearby medical facility in stable condition for evaluation and treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. Military authorities have launched a formal investigation into the root cause of the crash, though specific details regarding the operational status or flight plan of the aircraft at the time of the incident have not yet been released.
The impact created a plume of dark smoke and ignited a vegetation fire north of State Route 52, which was clearly visible to motorists on the adjacent freeway. Aerial footage revealed the wreckage divided into two major sections within a scorched field roughly the size of a football pitch. Local firefighting crews, including the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, assisted military emergency responders in containing the brush fire, while the armed forces retained full jurisdiction over the crash site and surrounding perimeter.
