Watch an Alleged British F-35 Jet Crash Into the Mediterranean In New Video

A video that shows moments before the F-35 fighter jet crashed into the Mediterranean after taking off from the Royal Navy's ship HMS Queen Elizabeth has emerged on social media. The 16-second clip sees the pilot ejecting from the aircraft seconds before the aircraft plunged into the sea. 

Well thank God he is still with us! That’s all I can say. pic.twitter.com/YtL6f0BFAm

— Seb H (@sebh1981) November 29, 2021

The fighter aircraft was reported to have been lost earlier this month with the pilot rescued soon after the crash. The British Ministry of Defense (MoD) has not revealed further details citing security concerns. With investigations regarding the crash still ongoing, there is a lot of speculation about its possible causes. Some of these might be put to rest with the emergence of this video that appears to be a mobile phone recording of the accident footage. 

It is unclear where the mobile phone recording was taken. However, the accident footage is likely from the visual surveillance system on the HMS Queen Elizabeth. BBC reported that the MoD has acknowledged that the video is being circulated online but hasn't commented on the cause of the accident. BBC also suspects that a separate investigation into how the video footage was leaked may also be launched soon. 

As can be seen in the video, the fighter jet approached the ski-runway ramp of the aircraft carrier but began slowing down instead of speeding up. The pilot realized that the aircraft would not be airborne and ejected seconds before the jet plunged towards the sea. His parachute can be seen very close to the runway, something that was reported earlier by Daily Mail. 

In a short report, The Sun has attributed the cause of the crash to "cheap plastic covers" that protect the aircraft from the rain. It is unclear from the report if one of the covers was accidentally left on the aircraft or if it was sucked in from other aircraft prior to taking off. Considering that other F-35s have not yet been grounded, the crash could be the result of a human error rather than a technical glitch, The Drive reported, while backing this theory. 

The full investigation report is likely to be tabled only after the aircraft has been recovered. We had reported that the Royal Navy has sought U.S. help to salvage the fighter jet wreckage, which from this video is unlikely to be very far from the accident site. However, there have been no further reports on the aircraft recovery, so far.