(Washington) “I think it landed in my garden”: this is what a resident of South Carolina calmly explained to the American emergency call service 911, after a military pilot is ejected from his F-35, according to audio released Friday.
The affair both amused and shocked the United States: on Sunday, a military base in South Carolina called on the population to help find a missing F-35 fighter plane. The device is estimated at $80 million.
Its pilot had ejected and was doing well, she added, remaining silent on the “incident” which caused the soldier’s hasty departure.
It turns out that the latter was able to speak on the phone with the emergency number 911 thanks to the resident in question, according to several minutes of the call, broadcast Friday by the media in the United States.
The resident first tries to explain this curious situation to a perplexed operator.
“We have a pilot in the house. He says he ejected from the plane. And we just wanted to know if they could send us an ambulance please,” this person said.
” Pardon ? » reacted the operator.
“We have a pilot. In the house,” the resident repeats. “I think it landed in my garden.”
Then it is the pilot himself who speaks.
“A military plane crashed. I’m the pilot. We need to launch relief efforts,” he said. “I don’t know where the plane is. Maybe he crashed somewhere. I ejected,” he continues.
When the operator asks him what caused his parachute arrival, he says that his plane had a “malfunction”.
He also explains that he feels good and that his back just hurts.
“I just arrived on the ground by parachute. Could you send an ambulance please? », he said again before asking her if she had been informed of a plane crash in the region.
Not yet, she replies.
The remains of the F-35B Lightning II, the flagship of American aeronautics, were finally found on Monday in South Carolina, approximately 24 hours after its disappearance.