US fighter jet crashes near California military base

LOS ANGELES: A US F-35 fighter jet crashed Friday near a military base in San Diego, but the pilot was able to eject before impact, officials said.

“There was an aviation mishap involving a Marine Corps F-35B in the vicinity” of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar at about 10:00 am (1700 GMT), a spokesman for the base told AFP.

“The pilot was ejected and has been recovered and is en route to a medical facility.”

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The spokesman could not say if the pilot had been injured in the incident, or if anyone else was hurt. But he said the US military would provide further details at a later time.

Footage circulated on social media showed a plume of smoke rising from the aircraft, as firefighters were deployed to douse the flames.

MCAS Miramar is known around the world as the one-time home of the US Navy’s “Top Gun” school for elite pilots, immortalized in the 1986 film “Top Gun” starring Tom Cruise.