VIDEO: F-35 Crashes in Flames Sparking Football-Field Sized Inferno Outside San Diego

A U.S. Marine Corps F-35 fighter jet crashed in flames Friday near Marine Corps Air Station Miramar outside San Diego, sending up a towering plume of smoke visible for miles and igniting a football-field-sized brush fire.

The aircraft, assigned to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, went down at around 10 a.m. local time after the pilot safely ejected following what the Marine Corps described as an “aircraft mishap.” Military officials confirmed the incident involved an F-35B assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 11 and said the pilot had been recovered.

Authorities have not released details about the pilot’s condition, whether anyone else was injured, or what caused the crash.

Dramatic aerial footage from local television and aired on Fox News showed the aircraft broken into two large sections in the middle of a charred field north of State Route 52, with flames continuing to burn as emergency crews responded. The resulting blaze, visible from the nearby freeway, prompted calls to the California Highway Patrol while firefighters worked to contain it.

The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said it was assisting with the brush fire but noted that the military has jurisdiction over the crash site and the investigation.

Marine Corps spokesperson 1st Lt. Blake Starbuck told Fox News that emergency personnel responded after reports of the crash at the installation’s flight line. He said officials did not immediately know whether the aircraft had been taking off or landing, what type of mission it had been flying, or whether it was engaged in a training exercise.

The Marine Corps later confirmed the incident.

Officials have not indicated what may have led to the aircraft going down, and no public briefing had been scheduled as of Friday afternoon.

The F-35B is the short takeoff and vertical landing variant of the Pentagon’s fifth-generation fighter, flown by the U.S. Marine Corps from installations including MCAS Miramar.

Military officials said additional information would be released as it becomes available as investigators begin examining the circumstances surrounding the crash.

Watch above via Fox News.

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