DALLAS — A pilot ejected from a military fighter jet, making a crash landing on a runway Thursday morning in Fort Worth.
“We are aware of the F-35B crash on the shared runway at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth and understand that the pilot ejected successfully,” Lockheed Martin said in a written statement. “Safety is our priority, and we will follow appropriate investigation protocol.”
The company did not provide information about the condition of the pilot or what may have led to the crash in its statement.
The base is near the town of White Settlement and police responded about 10:15 a.m. after receiving multiple calls about a military aircraft crash with a pilot ejecting, police Chief Christopher Cook said.
Cook said the Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin requested the police close off public areas around the runway because they worried people would encroach on federal property.
“When we got here, there were people in the middle of the highway,” Cook said. “Certainly we had to clear up all of that, from a safety perspective.”
About noon, Cook said there was just one road closure at White Settlement Road and Grants Lane while authorities conduct their investigation. He said the plane was Lockheed Martin’s.
Lockheed Martin is an arms, defense, security and aerospace company headquartered in Maryland that employs about 114,000 people worldwide, according to its website. The Tarrant County facility is the primary place where the company manufactures F-35 combat aircraft and employs more than 18,000 people. Lockheed is one of the largest contractors working with the Department of Defense.
The F-35B can land like a helicopter and take-off in short distances, and it is operated by the United States Marine Corps, the United Kingdom and the Italian Air Force, according to the company’s website.
The base said in a Facebook post Tuesday multiple structures were damaged by strong winds that accompanied a tornado that occurred during storms that day. The group said debris had spread across the runway and the base’s operations department were cleaning up the scene that day.
Fourteen tornadoes swept through the region Tuesday. The National Weather service said three tornadoes — one with winds up to 110 miles per hour — touched down near the base that day.
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