The Marine Corps attributes the crash of a malfunctioning F-35 in a South Carolina forest to pilot error.
According to a Marine Corps investigation released Thursday, an F-35B Lightning II fighter jet that crashed in South Carolina last year experienced an electrical malfunction, causing the pilot to become disoriented and eject during a heavy rainstorm. This led to the jet flying unmanned for over 11 minutes bef
ore crashing around 60 miles away.
The investigation withheld the pilot’s name, but Military.com has identified him as Col. Charles “Tre” Del Pizzo, a Marine officer with 27 years of active service. In a puzzling decision by the Marine Corps, he was appointed to lead a prominent unit nearly a year after the crash, only to be relieved of his command three months later by the service’s top official.
On September 17 last year, Del Pizzo set out on a training flight from Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina. The investigation revealed that his helmet displays failed three times, triggering numerous warnings and advisories in the cockpit as he attempted to land that afternoon but missed his approach.
