Recently released footage shows the moment when local authorities came across a Marine pilot who had ejected from an F/A-18 fighter jet before it crashed into a mountainside in Washington state earlier this summer.
On June 13, an F/A-18 Hornet went down near Rimrock Lake, approximately 55 miles southeast of Seattle, creating a large fire and smoke cloud. Campers nearby recorded the incident and shared it online.
Body camera footage from the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office reveals the unidentified pilot, part of the 11th Marine Aircraft Group from Miramar, California, appearing somewhat disoriented and bleeding from his face.
In the video, he approaches emergency responders with his cell phone showing a call to 911. “I’ve come over that tree line,” he tells them, adding, “I cut down those trees.” It’s a striking moment, really. It almost sounds surreal.
At one point in the video broadcasted, he responds to a question that is hard to hear. “I don’t know exactly. I’m just—” he says, his confusion evident about the situation he found himself in.
Typically, pilots only use emergency evacuation procedures when absolutely necessary. It’s intense—explosives and rocket motors eject violently from the cockpit, subjecting the pilot to brutal forces of up to 20G—the kind of pressure that’s hard to imagine.
In another clip not shown on air but reported by ABC, the pilot answers a first responder’s question about the aircraft, noting, “It’s an F-18. Well, it was an F-18. We were circling over the lake, doing some low-level training… And I tuck in, and I don’t know exactly.” There’s a sort of vulnerability in his voice, as if he’s still trying to process what happened.
Commonly referred to as the “F-18,” this jet serves both as a fighter and an attack aircraft, capable of engaging in aerial combat as well as striking ground or sea targets.
Moments later in the footage, the pilot makes a phone call. “Hey buddy, we just crashed,” he says, which brings a sobering reality to what just transpired.
The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing had stated that during the incident, pilots were engaged in routine training when the F-18 faced a “non-fatal air accident.” As of now, the reasons behind the crash are still being investigated.
