Beaufort pilot ejects from fighter jet after ‘mishap,’ aircraft missing near Charleston
Marine officials are searching for an F-35B Lightning II fighter jet after a pilot from Beaufort’s Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) ejected from the aircraft during a “mishap” Sunday afternoon.
The Beaufort pilot was taken to a local medical center and was in stable condition Sunday, Joint Base Charleston officials said. Joint Base and Beaufort authorities were focusing their search near Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion, about 50 miles north of the base in North Charleston.
The jet’s location-specifying transponder “was not working for some reason that we haven’t yet determined,” Joint Base spokesperson Jeremy Huggins told The Washington Post.
The “mishap” that forced the pilot to eject from the $135 million advanced aircraft was not immediately available, although the military regards a mishap to be any incident that “results in death, injury illness or property damage.” When an F-35 crashed on Little Barnwell island near MCAS Beaufort in September 2018 — the first time the new fighter jet model had crashed — the incident was classified as a “Class A” mishap, entailing at least $2 million in damage or the complete destruction of the plane.
Sunday afternoon’s incident drew criticism from U.S. Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, who represents Beaufort County and the rest of South Carolina’s 1st congressional district.
“How the hell do you lose an F-35?” Mace asked in a social media post Sunday night.
A spokesperson from MCAS Beaufort could not immediately be reached Monday afternoon for additional information.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
This story was originally published September 18, 2023 at 12:55 PM with the headline "Beaufort pilot ejects from fighter jet after ‘mishap,’ aircraft missing near Charleston."
