07/31/2026
🚨 BREAKING: A US Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II crashed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego this morning. The pilot ejected and survived.
The crash happened just before 10 a.m. local time. The single-seat fighter came down short of the runway and caught fire, sending black smoke over the base that was visible for miles.
The Marine Corps said the pilot “was transported to a local medical facility in stable condition for evaluation and treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.”
Air traffic control audio recorded by LiveATC captured the moment. The Miramar tower told firefighters “F-35 short final crash,” and said it appeared the parachute had deployed.
The wreckage sparked a brush fire in the dry grass around it. Fire crews covered the aircraft in foam while San Diego Fire-Rescue worked the vegetation fire.
The Marine Corps classified it as a Class A mishap, its most serious category. That applies when damage exceeds $2 million, an aircraft is destroyed, or a service member is killed. Here, the loss of the aircraft alone meets the threshold. A single F-35B costs around $109 million.
The jet was assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 11 and based at Miramar. The cause is not yet known, and the Marine Corps will investigate.
This is a developing story.