On Friday, a recording was released of a 911 emergency call from the owner of an anonymous home reporting that the pilot, whose name has not been disclosed, of a US Marine Corps F-35 had parachuted into his backyard after ejecting from the jet.
The homeowner told the bewildered 911 dispatcher who fielded the unusual call over the weekend, “I think we got a pilot in our house. He ejected from the plane. I guess he landed in my backyard and we were trying to see if we could get an ambulance to the house.”
The bewildered 911 dispatcher responded, “I’m sorry, what happened?”
The pilot, whose name has not been revealed, parachuted to safeness into a North Charleston neighborhood at about 2 pm (18:00 GMT) on Sunday and the jet worth $80 million continued flying in what some called a “zombie state”.
The plane ultimately crashed about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of where the pilot ejected and the debris was discovered on Monday after the authorities asked the public to support locating the missing jet.
After the homeowner talked to the dispatcher, the pilot himself got on the phone and attempted to clarify the problem.
The pilot said, “I’m a pilot in a military aircraft and I ejected so I just rode a parachute down to the ground. Can you please send an ambulance?”
The dispatcher at this moment did not seem to comprehend that she was talking to the pilot himself.
She asked, “How far did he fall?”
The pilot answered, “I was at 2,000 feet.”
The dispatcher asked, “Okay, and what caused the fall?”
The pilot replied, “An aircraft failure.”
The pilot told the dispatcher he was “not sure where the aircraft is” and questioned if there had been any news of an airplane crash.
She said, “I have not seen any come up yet.”
“I have not seen any come up yet,” the dispatcher said.
The debris of the F-35 was discovered in Williamsburg County, South Carolina, northeast of Joint Base Charleston, where the aircraft took off on a routine training flight.
