The pilot of a Navy jet that crashed Wednesday evening near Naval Air Station Lemore in the Central Valley was able to safely eject from the aircraft before the plane went down, officials said.
The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office received a report around 6:40 p.m. that a military jet had crashed and was engulfed in flames. Responding deputies, firefighters, California Highway Patrol officers and emergency medical personnel found the wreckage of the F-35C stealth jet in a cotton field north of the air station, authorities said in a social media post.
The pilot was found with a parachute in a nearby field, the Sheriff’s Office reported. He was flown to a hospital for evaluation and was expected to survive his injuries.
Firefighters used a bulldozer to cut a path to the jet so fire engines could get close enough to extinguish the fire, the Sheriff’s Office said.
“NAS Lemoore can confirm an aviation incident on the operations side of the installation. At 1830, an F-35C attached to the VFA-125 Rough Raiders went down not far from NAS Lemoore,” officials from Naval Air Station Lemoore said in a social media post.
“We can confirm the pilot successfully ejected and is safe. There are no additional affected personnel.”
The F-35C is a version of the stealthy joint strike fighter designed to operate from the Navy’s aircraft carriers. It has longer wings and a larger fuel tank than the Air Force version of the plane.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.