Here’s the Twitter, or X (…) that has been published by the US Marine Corps:
As a reference, AvWeb’s report cites:
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 Lockheed Martin F-35C is still a pretty advanced multirole fighter, a unit being quoted at $156 million… now using 2023 as a baseline, how is it possible to just loose one? With all the radar, tracking devices, etc, at disposal by the military?
how is it possible to just loose one? With all the radar, tracking devices, etc, at disposal by the military?
It’s stealth remember 
easily lost apparently 
Most likely ended up in one of the nearby lakes … but yes, bizarre :-)
It’s a joke surely since the pilot must have landed fairly close.
A “mishap”.
Anyone got the ASN link and the aircraft reg?
Daily Dirt Digger says it flew on on autopilot, while the transponder was not working. Very possible but why eject from a working plane? OTOH there are scenarios in FBW aircraft where immediate ejection is a requirement, IIRC.
I heard that the pilot was ejected involuntary. Probably the a/c is in the lake and yes, the flight track can be recovered. The military don’t only use SSR, but primary radar, Link16 and MADL (F-35 only).
Auto ejection does exist on some types. I vaguely recall the F35 has it on the VTOL version because any drive/gearbox failure inverts the aircraft very fast, and obviously this is a “problem” when close to the ground. So maybe this activated accidentally.
