Dhe fact that the US military had to ask the public for help in finding an F-35 fighter jet was quite extraordinary. An emergency call recording that has now been published about the incident in the US state of South Carolina is at least as bizarre. Review: Last weekend, a pilot escaped from the stealth jet using the ejection seat due to a “glitch”. The fighter plane then disappeared – the wreckage was only found by the US military a day later. The incident caused ridicule.
An emergency call from a man on whose property the pilot is said to have landed has now become public. The local administration confirmed the authenticity of the emergency call to the German Press Agency.
“There was a military jet crash. I’m the pilot.”
“I think we have a pilot in our house who says he used an ejector seat to eject himself from a plane,” the man in the call tells the woman at 911. “Excuse me, what happened?” she asks in disbelief.
After some back and forth, the pilot finally intervened: “There was a military jet crash. I am the pilot. I’m not sure where the plane is. It must have come down somewhere and I was thrown out.”
The woman in the emergency call center finally asks how far the pilot fell. The pilot’s answer: “Around 600 meters.” The reaction: a short silence and then the question: “What caused the fall?”
Answer: “Plane failure.” The pilot finally says: “I feel good. My back hurts.” When asked whether there had been a report of a plane crash, the puzzled woman in the emergency call center said no.
Finally, the pilot seems to lose his nerve slightly: “I am a military aircraft pilot and I used the ejection seat. I just landed on the ground with a parachute. Can you please send an ambulance?”
The answer is that this is already on the way. The woman in the emergency call center finally advises the pilot: “From now on, don’t eat or drink anything, it could make you sick or cause further problems. And don’t move unless absolutely necessary.”