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A pilot ejected from a Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II fighter jet during a landing at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth Thursday morning.
White Settlement Chief of Police Christoper Cook said they were called at 10:15 a.m. by U.S. Navy Police and Lockheed Martin to help clear onlookers away a roadway adjacent to the runway while officials responded and investigated an incident with an aircraft.
According to Cook, a Lockheed-owned jet suffered some sort of malfunction that forced the pilot to eject the aircraft. Cook said the pilot's ejected seat and parachute were visible near the aircraft which came to a stop in the grass along the southwest side of the runway, near White Settlement Road and Spur 341/Lockheed Boulevard.
The B variant of the aircraft can land vertically like a helicopter. Video obtained by NBC 5 showed the aircraft landing vertically Thursday morning when it bounced. As it came back down, the tail end pitched up, driving the nose into the ground and snapping off the front landing gear. The aircraft then slid 180 degrees on its nose and right wing before turning back in the other direction. At that moment, with the aircraft on the ground, the pilot was ejected from the aircraft and the plane appeared to come to rest in the grass.
Cook said earlier in the morning that the pilot safely ejected but had no other information about the pilot's condition.
Lockheed Martin, who assembles the fighter jet at a facility immediately to the west of the base and shares the north-south 18/36 runway with the joint reserve base, confirmed the crash but offered no further update on the pilot's condition.
"We are aware of the F-35B crash on the shared runway at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth and understand that the pilot ejected successfully," Lockheed Martin said in a statement. "Safety is our priority, and we will follow appropriate investigation protocol."
Further details about the incident have not been confirmed by Lockheed Martin or officials at NAS JRB.
White Settlement Chief of Police Christoper Cook said they were called at 10:15 a.m. by U.S. Navy Police and Lockheed Martin to help clear onlookers away a roadway adjacent to the runway while officials responded and investigated an incident with an aircraft.
According to Cook, a Lockheed-owned jet suffered some sort of malfunction that forced the pilot to eject the aircraft. Cook said the pilot's ejected seat and parachute were visible near the aircraft which came to a stop in the grass along the southwest side of the runway, near White Settlement Road and Spur 341/Lockheed Boulevard.
The B variant of the aircraft can land vertically like a helicopter. Video obtained by NBC 5 showed the aircraft landing vertically Thursday morning when it bounced. As it came back down, the tail end pitched up, driving the nose into the ground and snapping off the front landing gear. The aircraft then slid 180 degrees on its nose and right wing before turning back in the other direction. At that moment, with the aircraft on the ground, the pilot was ejected from the aircraft and the plane appeared to come to rest in the grass.
Cook said earlier in the morning that the pilot safely ejected but had no other information about the pilot's condition.
Lockheed Martin, who assembles the fighter jet at a facility immediately to the west of the base and shares the north-south 18/36 runway with the joint reserve base, confirmed the crash but offered no further update on the pilot's condition.
"We are aware of the F-35B crash on the shared runway at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth and understand that the pilot ejected successfully," Lockheed Martin said in a statement. "Safety is our priority, and we will follow appropriate investigation protocol."
Further details about the incident have not been confirmed by Lockheed Martin or officials at NAS JRB.
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