SAN DIEGO — A military fighter jet whose pilot had just safely ejected plunged to the ground in an open area at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar today and exploded in flames.
The Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II went down off Miramar Road near Mitscher Way about 10 a.m. Friday, according to the base’s public affairs office and firefighting officials.
The crash, which sparked a small brush fire, occurred near the flight line at the northern San Diego military station, said 1st Lt. Blake Starbuck, a base spokesman.
In a post on social media, a person who described witnessing the accident while driving on nearby Interstate 15 wrote that the aircraft flew over the freeway with its cockpit open before crashing in “a big fireball” as a parachute carrying the ejected pilot floated down toward the ground.
Paramedics took the pilot to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, Marine Corps officials told news crews.
Firefighters had the several-acre vegetation blaze ignited by the accident extinguished as of early afternoon, officials said.
It was not immediately clear why the pilot ejected from the high-tech warplane.
