Navy F-35 jet crashes outside California air base

A Navy pilot safely ejected from an F-35 jet moments before it crashed into a Fresno County cotton field in a fiery blaze Wednesday evening. The crash occurred about 6:30 p.m., not far from Naval Air Station Lemoore, the U.S. Navy said in a statement.

The wreckage of the military jet burned as deputies with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, paramedics, firefighters and officers with the California Highway Patrol responded to the field near Dickinson and Cadillac avenues, north of the base. Emergency officials on the ground found the pilot with a parachute in a nearby field, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office announced in a Facebook post.

A helicopter transported the pilot to a hospital for evaluation.

“He is expected to be OK,” the Sheriff’s Office said.

Video footage shared by the Sheriff’s Office showed firefighters using a bulldozer to clear a path to the jet so they could drive up to the wreckage and put out the fire.

The F-35 jet was attached to Strike Fighter Squadron 125, also known as the “Rough Raiders,” according to the Navy.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.