ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A U.S. Air Force pilot was reported to be safe after a single-seat F-35 fighter jet crashed Tuesday during a training drill at a base in Alaska.
The pilot had a problem during the flight but managed to safely eject from the plane, said Col. Paul Townsend, head of the 354th Fighter Wing, at a news conference. The plane crashed while arriving at Eielson Air Force Base, he said.
The pilot declared an emergency during the flight before the crash. He is now in stable health and being checked at a medical facility, he said.
The crash happened early Tuesday afternoon and caused major damage to the plane, according to the Air Force.
Eielson Air Force Base is located around 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Fairbanks.
Townsend said the Air Force will do a complete review to reduce the chances of this happening again.
In 2016, Eielson was chosen to base 54 F-35 jets. This led to an increase that cost over $500 million, which included building 36 new structures and adding many housing units. The expansion added around 3,500 new active-duty pilots and their families.
The F-35 can fly for over 12 hours, allowing it to reach nearly any location in the Northern Hemisphere in a single trip.
In May, an F-35 fighter jet fell while traveling from Texas to Edwards Air Force Base near Los Angeles. The crash happened after the pilot stopped to refuel in New Mexico. The pilot was taken to the hospital with severe injuries.
In October, a Marine probe found that the pilot of an F-35 ejected from the plane unnecessarily. This led to the fighter flying without a pilot for 11 minutes before it crashed in rural South Carolina in 2023.
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