How do you lose an $80 million dollar fighter jet?

[Robbie Cottam]

Military planes do not always have a transponder turned on. I assume once the pilot bailed out the plane kept going.

I assume they usually fly in pairs and that the wingman stayed with the pilot who bailed to ensure that emergency services could find him rather than follow the now pilotless plane.

I read in one report and electrical issue in the cockpit.....

If true, that could have disabled the transponder

There is NO primary target for the F-35, so without a transponder, you might as well be looking for him with binoclars

 

[bcla]

This is why you need to put an AirTag on your stuff.

I get it's a joke, but AirTag has an effective range of 10 meters, although it might be higher in good conditions. An Apple device with Bluetooth on has to be that close in order to capture it.

Of course this has brought out all the jokes, but I'm thinking they probably had a good idea where it was that very night. There were people who heard the sound.

 

[Mysterian]

I get it's a joke, but AirTag has an effective range of 10 meters, although it might be higher in good conditions. An Apple device with Bluetooth on has to be that close in order to capture it.

Never tell me the odds.

 

[_19disnA]

Regardless of the facts about what actually happened, it seems the military could have done a better job of communicating to the public that a plane had gone missing. I don't see the need for the public to know every detail about these things. Perhaps it was testing some sort of new technology that might have malfunctioned. Broadcasting that to those who are potential enemies seems like a bad idea.