F-35(C?) crash NAS Lemoore

[Zaphod58]

Reports have begun to surface of an F-35 down outside NAS Lemoore. Initial word is that they were returning for an in flight emergency, and put the aircraft down in a field, where it caught fire and started a small brush fire. No word on the pilot. This is a breaking story and updates will be provided as they become available. 

Pilot ejected and is Code 4. He was transported by helicopter for evaluation.

The Navy has confirmed that it was a VFA-125 Rough Raiders aircraft. The Rough Raiders are a training squadron based at NAS Lemoore.  They're the West Coast Fleet Replacement Squadron. 

[rickymouse]

I hope the pilot is ok.

Those jets cost a lot of money up in smoke.  Did he try to land it in the field or did he jettison out before it went down?  Or can you even land something like that in a field or on a highway?

I do not know a lot about those jets, I have flown a cherokee and a cub, and during instruction the instructor said you can land those and some bigger planes in a field or road but there will usually be some damage.

I never finished getting my license, I almost crashed the plane at twenty hours, a forty mph headwind stopped when coming into landing the plane, and he had to take over and hit the throttle and aimed it down till lift restored.  I had to circle around and land because we were going to fast to touch down and I think he figured it was safer for him if I started soloing.  I don't blame him for that, I probably would have done the same thing but my heart did not go below two hundred BPM for two hours, never would have got my license anyway with tachychardia, just wanted to learn how to land a plane incase  a pilot had a heart attack....but that would only happen if I was flying the plane because I would have given him/her the heart attack with my flying.

[RickyD]

The way it sounds from my reading is he did land it in the field and upon landing at some point it caught fire. No word if the pilot managed to clear the aircraft before said fire. Also from the picture there is only a single smoke trail which would indicate a single fire not like a splash with multiple piles of debris.