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

[HeatherC]

Saw this in the news today and cannot understand how something like this can happen? Apparently, the pilot ejected and the plane kept going.

I understand it is a “stealth” plane but shouldn’t our military be able to find it? . Any thoughts?

 

[Christine]

Heard they just found it.

 

[GAN]

Did a news agency actually report it as "lost"? That would be the most ridiculous, not-age-well-story ever told!

 

[HeatherC]

Did a news agency actually report it as "lost"? That would be the most ridiculous, not-age-well-story ever told!

Yes..it has been on CNN and Fox News.

Where did they find it? Last time I checked they were still looking. Crazy!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Did a news agency actually report it as "lost"? That would be the most ridiculous, not-age-well-story ever told!

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/an...searches-fighter-jet-after-mishap-2023-09-18/

https://apnews.com/article/south-ca...plane-search-bcd3f6ae94a15c8258818a3f2f28bfac

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Elon calls it a rapid unscheduled disassembly

Usually happens when something is going really fast and tries to penetrate something really hard, (ground, mountains, buildings, etc)

Or when something really flammable comes in contact with something really hot

It is a process that turns really expensive things into really little things...........

 

[Moliphino]

Did a news agency actually report it as "lost"? That would be the most ridiculous, not-age-well-story ever told!

Yes, because it was lost for over a day.

https://x.com/TeamCharleston/status/1703523385475534968?s=20

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Yes, because it was lost for over a day.

https://x.com/TeamCharleston/status/1703523385475534968?s=20

They found the Debris field, not a jet..... It was a lot hard to find because people were searching for an airplane and should have been looking for a pile of rubel

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Call 843-963-3600 if you see it lol
Seriously there is a hotline

 

[Robbie Cottam]

would have been more effective if the post said:

*80 million dollar smoking hole in the ground" call.......

 

[HopperFan]

Did a news agency actually report it as "lost"? That would be the most ridiculous, not-age-well-story ever told!

No the military reported it lost ...

The U.S. military said on Monday it was still searching for an F-35 fighter jet after a mishap on Sunday near an air base in South Carolina and has asked for the public's help locating it.

The pilot of the F-35B Lightning II jet ejected safely from the aircraft, according to a statement from Joint Base Charleston.

"If you have any information that may help our recovery teams locate the F-35, please call the Base Defense Operations Center at 843-963-3600.

Lots of questionable pieces of info but I'll wait for a more solid explanation. What is strange is every report that the $80 million debris field was found but no where do they say there were no injuries, that I can find.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

No the military reported it lost ...

The U.S. military said on Monday it was still searching for an F-35 fighter jet after a mishap on Sunday near an air base in South Carolina and has asked for the public's help locating it.

The pilot of the F-35B Lightning II jet ejected safely from the aircraft, according to a statement from Joint Base Charleston.

"If you have any information that may help our recovery teams locate the F-35, please call the Base Defense Operations Center at 843-963-3600.

Lots of questionable pieces of info but I'll wait for a more solid explanation. What is strange is every report that the $80 million debris field was found but no where do they say there were no injuries, that I can find.

the pilot got out safety.....

Unless someone is reported missing in the vicinity of the crash sight no real way of knowing if the plane hit any one until they clean up the mess...... I mean do the accident investigation

 

[GAN]

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I read “lost” as ….”it’s lost until we get the story absolutely worked out.” The thought of a plane literally “disappearing” in this day and age -forget that it was a military plane, is something my brain just can’t process.

 

[hrhdhd]

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I read “lost” as ….”it’s lost until we get the story absolutely worked out.” The thought of a plane literally “disappearing” in this day and age -forget that it was a military plane, is something my brain just can’t process.

They're still looking for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 from 2014. (Pieces have washed up, but the whole plane hasn't been found. And no bodies.)

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I read “lost” as ….”it’s lost until we get the story absolutely worked out.” The thought of a plane literally “disappearing” in this day and age -forget that it was a military plane, is something my brain just can’t process.

If you replace the word lost with the word totaled in The article the black helicopters will land

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Can't help but picture this.

 

[GAN]

They're still looking for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 from 2014. (Pieces have washed up, but the whole plane hasn't been found. And no bodies.)

There are PLENTY of sensible theories on that one as well ….have you watched the documentary on Netflix? The pieces that “washed up” have been questioned

 

[kdonnel]

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.

 

[bcla]

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.

Reports out of Joint Base Charleston was that the transponder may have been malfunctioning. For training, these normally have device attached to increase radar signature and to hide how effective their stealth capabilities are, unless they're in some exercise where that's absolutely needed. But this was a training squadron for pilots new to the aircraft to learn how to fly it.

I do find it interesting that there was no big crash with a smoldering crater, but this apparently hit a swampy area, so that could have prevented a massive fire. But there were people living nearby who later relayed that they heard a big sound.

 

[Mysterian]

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