Marine Corps investigators blamed pilot for high-profile crash of an F-35B stealth fighter jet near Charleston, S.C., in 2023; In this aircraft, the aircraft continued flying for more than 60 mph after the pilot ejected. (Kyle Baskin/US Marine Corps)

Marine Corps investigators blamed the pilot for last year’s high-profile crash near Charleston, S.C., in which an F-35B stealth fighter jet continued flying more than 60 mph after the pilot ejected.

According to the Jan. 18, 2024, investigation made public by the Marine Corps on Thursday, the pilot was supposed to remain on the plane after experiencing an electrical malfunction while approaching the landing point at Joint Base Charleston on Sept. 17, 2023. The investigation concluded that the F-35’s “advanced automatic flight control systems” allowed the plane to continue flying itself approximately 64 miles northeast of Hemmingway, S.C., onto private property near Hemmingway, S.C., where it was not found for more than a day after crashing.

“The pilot diagnosed an out-of-control flight emergency, albeit during a heavy rainstorm, with the aircraft’s electrical and display malfunctions, and was ejected from a flightable aircraft,” investigators wrote in the 111-page report.

Despite finding that ejecting the pilot was wrong, investigators did not recommend any punishment for the sailor in this case. The pilot’s commander agreed, according to service documents.

The pilot’s name and rank were redacted in the investigation report. Investigators found the pilot was “qualified and up to date” to fly the advanced aircraft and was “of sound mind and body” before the crash. The investigation stated that the pilot was a “highly experienced” aviator who had flown more than 2,800 hours in the Marine Corps, primarily in the AV-8B Harrier jet. However, the pilot had limited experience with the F-35B and had approximately 32 hours of flight time in that jet before the crash. The pilot was assigned to the 2nd Marine Air Wing’s Marine Fighter Strike Squadron 501.

The incident occurred around 1:30 p.m. local time at Joint Base Charleston, shortly after the pilot initiated vertical landing procedures, a feature that allows the Navy version of the F-35B to land in a helicopter-like manner. The pilot reported that after lowering the landing gear and engaging in vertical descent mode, the helmet-mounted display, which displayed flight information and date directly on the F-35 pilot’s helmet visor, turned on and off at least twice.

The pilot reported that the helmet display showed “multiple warnings and alerts” before attempting to land. He told investigators that after the instruments were disabled a second time, the pilot “determined that landing on the runway was not possible” and returned the F-35 to normal flight mode. The screen went off again, causing the pilot to believe that the aircraft was uncontrollable and an ejection was necessary.

After the pilot ejected from the aircraft (eventually landing in a residential backyard about a mile from the base without major injury), the F-35 continued flying for 11 minutes and 21 seconds before crashing into dense forest approximately 64 nautical miles away. where the pilot ejected. The investigation found that the Joint Base Charleston turret was initially able to track the jet, but lost radar contact with it after flying approximately 23 nautical miles.

With the plane missing, Navy officials launched a massive search involving military assets and civilian law enforcement to find the jet. The jet would not be found until approximately 27 hours after the pilot ejected.

Investigators found that the low flight path and the stealth features of the F-35s likely contributed to Joint Base Charleston’s turret losing contact with the jet. They found that multiple factors contributed to the difficulties in finding the aircraft, including loss of radar contact, “little or no fire” in the crash, and the crash site’s location deep in dense forest.

Investigators wrote that even when viewed from the sky, “the crash site was barely noticeable.”

“The only part of the aircraft visible from the air was a large portion of the engine,” the report reads.

Investigators stated that search teams found the F-35 and cleared the wreckage in an environmentally responsible manner. The cleanup process took about a month.

No one on the ground was injured in the crash, but the Marine Corps said it resulted in the loss of privately owned “forest land and crops.”

This also resulted in the loss of the F-35B, valued at approximately $100 million, the researchers wrote.