A Navy pilot crashed into a cotton farm in Fresno County in a fiery fire Wednesday night and ejected from an F-35 jet. The U.S. Navy said in a statement that the crash occurred at 6:30 p.m., not far from Naval Air Station Lemore.
The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office of the California Highway Patrol, medical staff, firefighters and officers responded in the fields near Dickinson and Cadillac Avenue north of the base. The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office announced in a Facebook article that emergency officials on the ground found pilots in nearby fields.
A helicopter transports the pilot to a hospital for evaluation.
“I expected him to be fine,” the sheriff’s office said.
Videotapes shared by the sheriff’s office show firefighters using bulldozers to clear the path to the jet so they can drive to the wreckage and put out the fire.
According to the Navy, the F-35 jet is attached to the strike fighter squadron 125, also known as the “rough attacker.”
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
