Moment pilot ejects from $80m US stealth jet with seconds to spare

The crash occurred during a test flight at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth in Texas
Getty Images

This is the heart-stopping moment a US fighter pilot ejects out of their $80million aircraft as a landing goes terrifyingly wrong.

The pilot of the F-35B Lightning II US stealth fighter was attempting a vertical landing at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth in Texas.

The jet’s nose hits the floor first causing the aircraft to spin 180 degrees and emit smoke at just after 10am local time on Friday.

Onlookers swore in disbelief as they saw the pilot eject at the last second.

Local police chief Chris Cook said in a video shot by a local Fox affiliate.

“When we arrived, we were pleased that we didn’t see a big plume of smoke, nothing like that, so we felt like, ‘OK, thoughts and prayers with the pilot, maybe they’re going to be fine,’” Cook said in the video.

The crash occurred during a test flight, Fox 4 reported.

Lockheed Martin, jet producer and munitions contractor, acknowledged the crash in a statement.

The company said: “We are aware of the F-35B crash on the shared runway at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth and understand that the pilot ejected successfully.

“Safety is our priority and we will follow appropriate investigation protocol.”

It came a year after a British F-35 stealth jet plunged into the Mediterranean Sea during a routine flying operation.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in