Recently, an F-35C experienced a landing mishap as it attempted to land on the USS Carl Vinson, an aircraft carrier currently located in the South Pacific Sea. In addition to the now-viral photo of the plane sinking into the water, a video of the incident has now emerged and been shared to YouTube.
As has been widely reported, one of America’s fighter jets recently crashed as it attempted to land on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson. After the pilot ejected, the boat apparently slid into the ocean where it sank. The now-viral photo of the jet as it sinks into the South Pacific waters quickly took the internet by storm, and now we have a partial video of the incident.
The aforementioned picture of the $100m jet sitting atop the water after skidding off the deck is quite dramatic and according to CNN, and many others, the race is on to salvage the stealth fighter before its tech falls into the hands of other nation-state entities.
The pilot, safely ejected and both he and 6 other crew members were injured in the incident, but all are expected to recover. While the authenticity of the video has not been confirmed yet, the Navy did confirm the veracity of the photo.
According to the CNN report, damage to the USS Carl Vinson, a carrier with the 7th Fleet, was only “superficial.” Efforts to recover the jet, which will be a complicated undertaking, are well underway. The last thing the US needs is for the tech to fall into the hands of someone like China.
