F35B

An F-35B crashed near the runway at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar north of San Diego at around 10:00 AM local time today. The aircraft was seen in helicopter footage from Fox 5 broken into two major pieces and burned.

As it sits now, it isn’t clear what the status of the pilot is. The installation is a master tactical jet base for the Marine Corps. It also hosts Marine helicopters and KC-130J tankers.

We have reached out to MCAS Miramar for more information. We will update this post with new information as it comes.

Update: 4:51 PM ET –

Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (MCAS Miramar) has issued an official statement, which is as follows:

“Emergency personnel responded this morning to an aircraft mishap on the flightline of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar at approximately 10:00 a.m. local time today, involving an F-35B assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3d Marine Aircraft Wing.”

“The pilot ejected, was transported to a local medical facility in stable condition for evaluation and treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.”

“More information will be released when available.”

Air traffic control audio from the crash is now also circulating online, as can be heard in the social media post below. The air traffic controllers note that the F-35B appeared to go down short of the runway while coming in to land and the pilot was able to eject.

The jet went down near the Miramar airbase in San Diego and aerial video showed a plume of black smoke rising from the wreckage in a dirt field.

An F-35B stealth fighter plane has crashed in California, but its pilot ejected and is expected to survive, the US Marine Corps said.

The jet went down on Friday near the Miramar airbase in San Diego. “The pilot ejected, was transported to a local medical facility in stable condition for evaluation and treatment of non-life-threatening injuries,” the Marine Corps said in a statement.

Aerial video from a news helicopter showed a plume of black smoke rising from the wreckage in a dirt field, with multiple military and firefighting vehicles and people standing nearby. What appeared to be white flame retardant covered the ground, and at least one person was spraying the wreckage with a fire hose.

Candace Hadley, a spokesperson for San Diego Fire, said firefighters were on scene to respond to a vegetation fire that sparked near the crash site. She referred additional questions to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

The base used to host the Navy fighter pilot training school depicted in the original Top Gun movie and was known as “Fightertown USA” in its heyday. The school was relocated to Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada in 1996 after the base was transferred to the Marine Corps.

The US Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force together have more than 630 F-35s, according to a 2024 analysis by the Government Accountability Office. The F-35B is one of several versions, and has an engine designed for short takeoffs and vertical landings. A single F-35B costs about $109m. The report estimated that the overall F-35 programme will cost roughly $2 trillion after the military buys more than 1,800 more jets and operates them for decades to come.

At least seven other military aircraft have crashed in the United States this year, according to the Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety Network database.

The most serious incident involved a B-52 bomber that crashed shortly after taking off in California’s Mojave Desert in June, killing all eight people on board.