The US military is looking for help from the public to find one of its F-35 fighter jets. The pilot got out of the plane.
It got lost on Sunday afternoon when the pilot was flying over the southern state of South Carolina.
The pilot, whose name is not known, jumped out of the plane and landed safely using a parachute. He is doing well in the hospital.
We don’t know exactly what happened yet, but officials said there was an accident involving the aircraft.
They said they were looking for the F-35B Lightning II jet near two lakes north of Charleston.
With the help of federal aviation regulators, the search for the jet is taking place in Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion, where it was last seen.
Joint Base Charleston asked for assistance on X, previously referred to as Twitter. The people in charge of responding to emergencies are still looking for the F-35.
“Please work together with the military and civilian authorities as they continue their efforts. ”
It asked anyone who knows anything that could help its recovery teams to get in touch with its operations center.
A map that shows where the two lakes are located and how close they are to Charleston.
The Marine Corps told the BBC that it didn’t know much about the incident yet and was still trying to find out more.
Another F-35 plane that was believed to be flying at the same time safely came back to the base in Charleston, according to Maj Melanie Salinas, a military spokeswoman.
The jet is built by a company called Lockheed Martin and is estimated to cost about $80 million. It is considered one of the most advanced fighter jets in the world.
The F-35 is the biggest and most expensive weapons program in the world.
In 2018, all of the F-35 fighter jets in the US military were stopped from flying for a while because one of them crashed in South Carolina.