It's not every day that you film $80M fighter jets falling out of the sky, but that's what happened in Alaska on Tuesday

Jan 29, 2025

Thankfully not the sort of thing you see every day:

That's what it looks like when 20,000 pounds of fuel blows up in one go:

Thankfully, the pilot got out okay:

A U.S. Air Force pilot was reported to be safe after a single-seat F-35 fighter jet crashed Tuesday during a training exercise at a base in Alaska.

The pilot experienced an 'inflight malfunction' but was able to eject from the aircraft, Col. Paul Townsend, commander of the 354th Fighter Wing, told a news conference. The plane crashed during the landing phase of the flight at Eielson Air Force Base, he said.

The massive air force base near Fairbanks hosts dozens of F-35s at a sprawling facility that includes thousands of servicemembers.

Here's maybe the oddest part:

The crash, which occurred early Tuesday afternoon, caused significant damage to the aircraft, the Air Force said in a statement.

"Significant damage?"

Pretty sure that sucker just blew right up.

(The F-35 costs between $80 and $110 million PER aircraft, not including the heavy maintenance requirements that routinely keeps half our F-35 fleet grounded.)

Unfortunately, this does happen from time to time:

Yikes!

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