Bizarre 911 call released after fighter jet pilot ejects and lands in back garden: ‘I’m not sure where the plane is’
A recording has captured the bizarre emergency call made by a US military pilot after ejecting from his jet and landing in a resident’s back garden.
The unidentified pilot was flying over Charleston, South Carolina, in an F-35 fighter jet on 17 September when he ejected due to what he described as an “aircraft failure”.
He and the resident whose garden he landed in called 911 to request an ambulance because the pilot said he had injured his back.
Both can be heard trying to explain the situation to the operator several times.
Airmen from Joint Base Charleston walk down Old Georgetown Road. Pic: Henry Taylor/AP
“We got a pilot in the house, and I guess he landed in my backyard, and we’re trying to see if we could get an ambulance to the house, please,” the resident said in his second attempt.
The 47-year-old pilot, who said he parachuted down from around 2,000 feet, added: “Ma’am, a military jet crashed. I’m the pilot. We need to get rescue rolling.
“I’m not sure where the airplane is. It would have crash landed somewhere. I ejected.”
The pilot was eventually taken to hospital.
It took officials more than 24 hours to locate the jet, which had continued flying for 60 miles after the pilot ejected, until it crashed in a field in a rural part of Williamsburg County, about two hours northeast of a military base in Charleston.
Local law enforcement and military officers stand at checkpoints along Old Georgetown Road, Williamsburg County. Pic: Henry Taylor/AP
Residents were being asked to avoid the area while a recovery team worked to secure it.
The Marine Corps said the jet, which is worth an estimated $100 million (£81.64 million), may have continued its flight due to a safety feature “designed to save our pilots if they are incapacitated or lose situational awareness”.
They said that while it was unclear why the jet kept flying, flight control software would have worked to keep it steady if there were no longer a pilot’s hands on the controls.
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“If the jet is stable in level flight, the jet will attempt to stay there,” they said in a statement.
The marines added that it was due to good fortune that the jet avoided crashing into a densely populated area.
Footage emerged on social media of the plane flying over South Carolina before crashing – which led to questions as to why officials took so long to locate it.
The jet, the corps explained, also has features which erase the aircraft’s secure communications in case of an ejection – a feature designed to protect both the pilot’s location and the plane’s classified systems – but this may have complicated efforts to find it.
“Normally, aircraft are tracked via radar and transponder codes. Upon pilot ejection, the aircraft is designed to erase all secure communication.”
They said thunderstorms and low cloud ceilings further hampered the search.
The incident is still under investigation and results from an official review board could take several months.
Fears of a US-EU trade war have been reignited after Europe refused to back down in the face of fresh threats from Donald Trump.
The word tariff has dominated much of the US president’s second term, and he has repeatedly and freely threatened countries with them.
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This included the so-called “liberation day” last month, where he unleashed tariffs on many of his trade partners.
On Friday, after a period of relative calm which has included striking a deal with the UK, he threatened to impose a 50% tariff on the EU after claiming trade talks with Brussels were “going nowhere”.
The US president has repeatedly taken issue with the EU, going as far as to claim it was created to rip the US off.
However, in the face of the latest hostile rhetoric from Mr Trump’s social media account, the European Commission – which oversees trade for the 27-country bloc – has refused to back down.
EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said: “EU-US trade is unmatched and must be guided by mutual respect, not threats.
“We stand ready to defend our interests.”
Donald Trump speaks to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday
Fellow EU leaders and ministers have also held the line after Mr Trump’s comments.
Polish deputy economy minister Michal Baranowski said the tariffs appeared to be a negotiating ploy, with Dutch deputy prime minister Dick Schoof said tariffs “can go up and down”.
French trade minister Laurent Saint-Martin said the latest threats did nothing to help trade talks.
He stressed “de-escalation” was one of the EU’s main aims but warned: “We are ready to respond.”
Mr Sefcovic spoke with US trade representative Jamieson Greer and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick after Mr Trump’s comments.
Mr Trump has previously backed down on a tit-for-tat trade war with China, which saw tariffs soar above 100%.
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Sticking points
Talks between the US and EU have stumbled.
In the past week, Washington sent a list of demands to Brussels – including adopting US food safety standards and removing national digital services taxes, people familiar with the talks told Reuters news agency.
In response, the EU reportedly offered a mutually beneficial deal that could include the bloc potentially buying more liquefied natural gas and soybeans from the US, as well as cooperation on issues such as steel overcapacity, which both sides blame on China.
Stocks tumble as Trump grumbles
Major stock indices tumbled after Mr Trump’s comments, which came as he also threatened to slap US tech giant Apple with a 25% tariff.
The president is adamant that he wants the company’s iPhones to be built in America.
The vast majority of its phones are made in China, and the company has also shifted some production to India.
Shares of Apple ended 3% lower and the dollar sank 1% versus the Japanese yen and the euro rose 0.8% against the dollar.
In the dozens of framed images and newspaper clippings covering the walls of his office in downtown New York City, Al Sharpton is pictured alongside presidents and leading protests.
He has spent decades campaigning and is perhaps the most famous civil rights activist in the US today.
Many of those clippings on the wall relate to one moment in May 2020 – the murder of George Floyd.
George Floyd was killed while under arrest in Minneapolis in May 2020
Speaking to Sky News ahead of the five-year anniversary of that moment, Mr Sharpton remembered the combination of “humiliation and deep anger” he felt seeing the footage of Mr Floyd’s death that swept the world.
“The more I watched, the more angry I felt,” he said.
Mr Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer.
Mr Floyd had been arrested after a store clerk reported he had made a purchase using counterfeit money.
Chauvin knelt on Mr Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes, while he was handcuffed and lying face down in the street.
Chauvin pressed his knee on Mr Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, as the victim repeatedly said ‘I can’t breathe’. Pic: AP
‘A seismic moment’
For Mr Sharpton, who has marched with countless other families, this felt different because it was “graphic and unnecessary”.
“What kind of person would hear somebody begging for their life and ignore them?” he said.
“I had no idea this would become a seismic moment,” he continued.
“I think people would accuse civil rights leaders, activists like me of being opportunistic, but we don’t know if one call from the next one is going to be big, all we know is we have to answer to the call.”
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Trump ‘pouring salt on the wounds’
Mr Floyd’s death took place during Donald Trump’s first term in the White House.
During Trump’s second term, his administration has moved to repeal federal oversight plans for the Minneapolis Police Department – a move originally supported by Joe Biden’s administration.
Mr Sharpton believes Mr Trump and the Department of Justice have purposely timed this for the 5th Anniversary of Mr Floyd’s Death.
“It’s pouring salt on the wounds of those that were killed, and those that fought,” he said.
“I think Donald Trump and his administration is actively trying to reverse and revoke changes and progress made with policing based on the movement we created after George Floyd’s death, worldwide.”
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Mr Sharpton still supports George Floyd’s family and will be with them this weekend in Houston, Texas, where many of them will mark the anniversary.
He said the legacy of Mr Floyd’s death is still being written.
Evoking the civil rights movement of the 1960s he said: “The challenge is we must turn those moments into permanent movements, it took nine years from 1955 to 1964 for Dr [Martin Luther] King in that movement to get a Civil Rights Act after Rosa Parks sat in the front of a bus in Montgomery.
“We’re five years out of George Floyd, we’ve got to change the laws.
“We can do it in under nine years, but we can’t do it if we take our eye off the prize.”
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