US Navy working to recover F-35C warplane that crashed into South China Sea

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – There is still no official word on what caused the F-35C to crash during routine flight operations aboard the USS Carl Vinson earlier this week.

The accident occurred Monday, when an F-35C Lightning 2 assigned to carrier air wing two had a landing mishap, resulting with the jet falling into the South China Sea.

The pilot safely ejected and was recovered, seven sailors were injured, two of them seriously enough that they were evacuated to a hospital in the Philippines.

Former Naval Aviator Brian “Sunshine” Sinclair joined KUSI’s Paul Rudy on Good Morning San Diego to discuss the accident, and explain how something like this can  happen.

Sinclair said the plane is basically in China’s backyard pond, as they have extreme amounts of resources in that area. The United States is aiming to recover the crashed aircraft before China can so they are unable to study it, as it is one of our most sophisticated aircrafts.

There is a photo floating around the internet showing the crashed F-35C floating in the South China Sea, but it is currently unconfirmed. Although, Sinclair explained it looks likely that is the aircraft.