The Marine Corps has taken to social media looking for help to find one of its F-35s after the pilot ejected over South Carolina on a training flight Sunday. The pilot landed in a residential area in North Charleston and is recovering in a local hospital. He was reported in stable condition, and an F-35 that was also on the mission landed safely at Joint Base Charleston. The airplane remains AWOL, however, and may be in a nearby lake.
The Marines said the trajectory of the aircraft likely took it in the direction of Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion north of Charleston. Bad weather hampered early search efforts, and the Marines took to X to appeal for the public’s help. The tweet asks anyone who might have seen the F-35 to call the Base Defense Operations Center. The aircraft are based at the Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort on South Carolina’s southeast coast.
