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

Edward Teach

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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