FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) — An investigation is underway after a military jet went down in a fiery crash in Fresno County, just miles away from Naval Air Station Lemoore.
The pilot ejected from the plane before the crash and is safe.
The incident happened just after 6:30 pm Wednesday near Dickenson and Cadillac Avenues.
NAS Lemoore says the aircraft was an F-35C fighter jet, which was part of the VFA-125 “Rough Raiders.”
Flames were seen coming out of the jet in the middle of a cotton field.
A helicopter arrived at the scene and took the pilot to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Officials say the pilot was an experienced flyer and that the investigation is just getting started.
“This will be a long, drawn out investigation,” says Tony Botti with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.
Fresno County Supervisor Buddy Mendes owns the field where the F-35 went down.
No information has been released on what may have caused the stealth fighter jet to crash.
BACKGROUND ON THE JET: The F-35C is the first and world’s only long-range stealth strike fighter designed and built explicitly for Navy carrier operations. It’s configuration, embedded sensors, internal fuel and weapons capacity, aligned edges, and state of the art manufacturing processes all contribute to the F-35’s unique Very Low Observable stealth performance. This enables pilots to evade enemy detection and operate in anti-access and contested environments, improving lethality and survivability.
