COLUMBIA, S.C.—A Marine investigation blamed the pilot of an advanced fighter jet for ejecting from the aircraft when he didn’t need to, causing the F-35 to fly unmanned for 11 minutes before it crashed in rural South Carolina last year.
Military officials could not find the jet or its wreckage for more than 24 hours, a predicament the investigative report released Thursday blamed on the $100 million aircraft’s stealth technology as well as a transponder that didn’t work and the plane flying at low altitude with a system that automatically stabilizes flight without a pilot’s control.
