DAILY MAIL
The USS Carl Vinson on Monday suffered a ‘landing mishap’ with F-35C warplane
The Navy said the stealth fighter ‘subsequently fell to the water’
It is packed with the latest technology and advances in radar-deflecting design
The ship is currently in the South China Sea, taking part in exercises
The pilot of the F-35 ejected safely and was rescued by helicopter
Seven were injured: three required evacuation to a medical facility in Manila
The U.S. faces a race to beat China in recovering an F-35 stealth fighter that plunged into the South China Sea on Monday after what the Navy termed a ‘landing mishap’ aboard the USS Carl Vinson. The pilot was forced to eject and seven military personnel in total were injured. The $100m warplane, customised for naval operations, plunged overboard, the US 7th Fleet said – making it the second time in three months that an F-35 has been lost overboard. It added that the aircraft carrier had been able to resume normal flight operations shortly after. But it leaves the Navy with a complex salvage operation if it is avoid its most sophisticated warplane, crammed with futuristic technology, falling into Chinese hands. The US Navy did not respond to follow-up questions about whether it had launched a salvage operation. The pilot of the F-35C deployed his landing hook to catch the deck and stop his jet, but something went wrong and he ejected and skidded over the side US Navy South China Sea crash was NINTH time $100m jets have malfunctioned in past eight years
