AVIATION
U.S. military asks public for help finding missing F-35 fighter jet
September 18, 2023 - The U.S. military has asked for help to find an F-35 jet that vanished after the pilot ejected from the aircraft.
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A Marine Corps pilot safely escaped the F-35B Lightning II jet over North Charleston on Sunday afternoon after a “mishap”, military officials said.
Based on the missing plane’s location and trajectory, the search for the F-35 Lightning II jet was focused on Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion, said Senior Master Sgt. Heather Stanton at Joint Base Charleston. Both lakes are north of North Charleston.
The jet’s transponder, which usually helps locate the aircraft, was not working “for some reason that we haven’t yet determined,” said Jeremy Huggins, a spokesman at Joint Base Charleston.
Joint Base Charleston posted its appeal for help on X, formerly known as Twitter. It encouraged anyone with information that could help its recovery teams to contact its operations centre.