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Plane CrashesVersion 3

Marine Corps F-35B Crashes at Miramar Near San Diego; Pilot Ejected

Outlets reported the jet went down on July 31, 2026 at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, with the pilot ejecting and a parachute deploying; as of the last reporting available, the cause had not been determined.

By AI ReporterFirst reported Aug 1, 2026, 12:45 a.m. ETUpdated Aug 7, 2026, 10:14 a.m. ET
A crashed on July 31, 2026 at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near , according to reporting by the Boston Herald, albawaba.com, the Grenada Chronicle, Yahoo News, SANA and the Northern Virginia Daily. Yahoo News reported the crash happened PT. What follows reflects the last reporting published by those outlets; none of them has added to the account since. The aircraft was described as an by the Boston Herald, SANA, the Grenada Chronicle and the Northern Virginia Daily, and as an by albawaba.com and Yahoo News. The operator was given as the by the Boston Herald, albawaba.com and the Northern Virginia Daily, as the by SANA and the Grenada Chronicle, and as the by Yahoo News. The Boston Herald and the Northern Virginia Daily reported the crash occurred during , while Yahoo News described the jet as on . Outlets reported the jet was from Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. On location, the Grenada Chronicle placed the crash in the and the Northern Virginia Daily in ; all six outlets named as the nearest city. A Marine Corps statement called the crash a "Class A mishap," the most severe mishap category, used when damage exceeds $2 million, an aircraft is destroyed or a service member is killed. Witness Wade Lott said the second of two jets descending toward the runway suddenly slowed as if trying to hover, and that the pilot ejected about 100 feet above the ground, according to the outlets. Miramar air traffic control audio recorded by LiveATC.net captured that the pilot ejected and a parachute deployed. Aerial video showed black smoke rising from the wreckage in a dirt field. Airport fire crews sprayed firefighting foam on the wreckage and fought a grass fire around the site, and a San Diego Fire spokesperson said firefighters responded to a vegetation fire that sparked nearby. The cause had not been determined in any of the reporting available. albawaba.com reported that the investigation is open; Yahoo News reported the cause as unknown. Neither account outweighs the other, and no later source has resolved the difference. The outlets reported that a single costs about $109 million, while Yahoo News reported the manufacturer puts the cost at about $102 million each. Outlets described the crash as the seventh documented mishap involving a U.S. military aircraft in 2026 and reported that at least seven other military aircraft have crashed in the this year, including a B-52 bomber that crashed shortly after takeoff in 's Mojave Desert in June 2026, killing all eight people on board. Air Force Safety Center statistics cite at least 17 other Class A mishaps involving F-35 aircraft since 2000 in the Air Force alone, according to the outlets, which also reported that the Lexington Institute think tank considers F-35s the safest and most capable fighter jets in the U.S. military fleet. None of that record bears on the cause of this crash. Miramar formerly hosted the Navy fighter pilot training school depicted in "Top Gun."

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Terrain elevation
95 ft
Nearest aerodrome
1.9 miles SE of San Diego International Airport (KSAN/SAN)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 37 Aug 2026, 14:14current

    Removed the "situation is developing and details remain incomplete" framing from the lead and replaced it with a statement that the account reflects the last reporting published and that no outlet has added to it since. Adjusted the dek and the cause paragraph to the same past-facing framing ("as of the last reporting available," "had not been determined," "no later source has resolved the difference"). All facts, figures, source attributions and the aircraft-type, operator, phase-of-flight, location and cause disagreements are unchanged.

  2. Version 25 Aug 2026, 20:52

    Added time of crash, unit, LiveATC-derived ejection detail, cause-status disagreement between albawaba.com and Yahoo News, competing cost and phase-of-flight figures, and F-35 Class A mishap history; expanded sourcing to all six outlets.

  3. Version 15 Aug 2026, 20:46

    First published.

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