US Fighter Jet Crashes: Here Is What Happened to the Pilot

A U.S. F-15 fighter jet crashed off the coast of Okinawa, located in Southern Japan, according to reports.

Reuters reported that the jet had only one person, the pilot, on board. The pilot was able to successfully eject and was recovered by a search and rescue operation.

A board of officers told Reuters that an investigation into the matter is underway.

Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said the government had “received information that a crew member of the F-15 jet, which is stationed at Kadena Air Base, ejected above the sea some 50 miles (80 km) south of” the city of Naha, The Japan Times reported.

The pilot was hurt with “nonlife-threatening” injuries, Onodera said. The Times report said he had a broken leg.

Military news website Stripes.com, however, reported that the pilot was in “serious condition.”

“Your quick response proves once again how valuable an asset you are to the U.S./Japanese alliance,” officials with the Kadena Air Base, the largest U.S. air base in East Asia, wrote on Twitter.

Onodera said the Japanese government “requested [the U.S. investigators] share information with us and that they take firm safety measures to prevent a repeat.”

The Okinawa Prefectural Government called on the U.S. military to suspend F-15 flights for safety reasons.

“The aircraft just happened to drop into the sea today,” said Kadena Mayor Hiroshi Toyama. He said that the plane might have gone down somewhere else, like in a residential area.

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