"No Pilot Onboard"... US F-35 Disappears After Flying 100km

F-35 Found Wreckage One Day After Disappearance
US Marine Corps: "Autopilot Function Activated"

Recently, an F-35 stealth fighter jet that went missing in South Carolina, USA, was found in wreckage, revealing that it flew 100km on its own without a pilot due to its 'autopilot function.'

Stealth fighter jet F-35 [Photo by Yonhap News]

According to foreign media reports on the 21st (local time), the U.S. Marine Corps stated that the F-35 flew 60 miles (about 100km) without a pilot because of the 'pilot protection function.'

The F-35 is equipped with an autopilot function to prevent emergency situations, which caused it to fly alone for 100km from the moment the pilot ejected until the crash.

The U.S. Marine Corps explained that when this function is activated, if the fighter jet was in level flight, it maintains that state, and if it was set to ascend or descend, it maintains the ascending or descending state with 1g acceleration due to gravity until another command is issued.

They added, "This is a function designed to save the lives of pilots who are unable to control the aircraft or are not aware of the situation."

The difficulty in locating the F-35 fighter jet was attributed to the 'secret communication deletion function.' The U.S. Marine Corps stated, "Aircraft are usually tracked by radar or radio transmission codes, but this fighter jet was designed to delete all secret communications immediately after the pilot ejected."

Earlier, on the 17th, in South Carolina, USA, a U.S. Marine Corps F-35 fighter pilot made an emergency ejection, and the aircraft went missing.

The U.S. military authorities launched a large-scale search, requesting public assistance to find the fighter jet wreckage, and the aircraft was found in wreckage on the outskirts of Williamsburg County, 100km away from the disappearance site.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.