Last weekend, a pilot escaped from an F-35 stealth jet using the ejector 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 because the US military had to ask the public for help in finding the fighter jet.
An emergency call recording that has now been published about the incident in the US state of South Carolina is at least as bizarre. Because the emergency call from the man on whose property the pilot is said to have landed became public. The local administration confirmed the authenticity of the emergency call to the German Press Agency.
“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 intervenes: “There was a military jet crash. I’m 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 pilot of a military aircraft 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 other problems. And don’t move unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
