On September 17, 2023, two F-35Bs from Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron, call signs “SWEDE 11” and “SWEDE 12,” took off at about 12:45 pm for a routine training sortie. Little did Col. Charles “Tre” Del Pizzo, the lead pilot, realize that 41 seconds of his sortie would change his career trajectory forever.
Col. Charles “Tre” Del Pizzo had to eject during a heavy rainstorm compounded by electrical and display malfunctions. However, the aircraft flew for another 11 minutes and 21 seconds, traversing roughly 64 nautical miles before crashing.
It took the Marines 30 hours before the crashed aircraft could be located in a field in South Carolina, spawning scores of memes about the aircraft’s stealth features.
After an investigation, the US Marine Corps (USMC) attributed the crash of the F-35 B to pilot error. The investigation by the USMC concluded that “the mishap occurred due to pilot error. The pilot incorrectly diagnosed an out-of-controlled flight emergency and ejected from a flyable aircraft, albeit during a heavy rainstorm compounded with aircraft electrical and display malfunctions.”
The pilot bailed out from the aircraft while attempting to execute a climb out during a missed approach in instrument meteorological conditions and heavy precipitation near Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina. Despite being cleared of all accusations and returning to fly, the pilot was later dismissed from his new assignment.
As a full colonel, he was getting ready to command a squadron in Yuma, Arizona, a high-profile posting where his assignment would have entailed fine-tuning the Marines’ aviation strategies and procedures, including those for the F-35 B.
For the first time, the pilot of the ill-fated aircraft has spoken to give his side of the story. Most of the flight the two combat jets undertook over the Atlantic Ocean was “uneventful.” Towards the end of the sortie, as the F-35s turned towards the Joint Base Charleston for landing, Del Pizzo was flying through the inclement weather, relying on their instruments.
In its findings, the US Marine Corps concurred with Del Pizzo’s assertion about the failure of the F-35’s helmet-mounted display (HMD), which has a whopping price tag of USD 400,000. The HMD shows data related to aircraft speed, altitude, and other target information important for the pilots to orient themselves.
The probe findings stated: “Contributing factors to the mishap included an electrical event during flight, which induced failures of both primary radios, the transponder, the tactical air navigation system, and the instrument landing system; and the probability that the helmet-mounted display and panoramic cockpit display were not operational for at least three distinct periods. This caused the pilot to become disoriented in challenging instrument and meteorological conditions.”
An F-35 fighter jet is known as one of the smartest fighter jets owing to its superior data fusion capabilities. The stealth aircraft is packed with instruments, cameras, and sensors that feed tons of data into computers linked to its Helmet display. The helmet is custom-built for every F-35 pilot. It has a dark visor, and all the information on display there moves with the pilot’s head.
At 1.32.05 pm, the problems started as Del Pizzo’s Helmet Mounted Display flickered, and when it came back online, there were several visual and aural alerts about failures in critical systems. Within 15 seconds, the HMD and the panoramic display in the cockpit went out.
Before bailing out, Del Pizzo went through the “OODA Loop” – observe, orient, decide, and act – to assess the situation and decide his next step. When the HMD came back on again, Del Pizzo observed that the aircraft was still in the clouds, just about 750 feet above the ground, and gliding towards the runway at about 800 feet per minute.
The 48-year-old pilot justified his action by saying he was flying blind in bad weather with back-to-back technical malfunctions. Speaking to Post and Courier, Del Pizzo detailed the events as they unfolded at a neck-breaking speed.
During the training sortie, Del Pizzo tested the jet for its strengths and weaknesses when he attempted an instrument landing in the F-35 B’s vertical mode in zero-visibility conditions during a raging storm. The F-35 B variant flown by the US Marines can do short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL), unlike the US Air Force’s F-35 A and US Navy’s F-35C.
The STOVL capabilities allow the aircraft to hover like a helicopter, and Del Pizzo intended to use this capability to land in bad weather.
Based on the data shown on the display, when the helmet flickered, Del Pizzo decided to pull away from the ground because he missed the approach procedure. He decided to climb up. He raised the landing gear and pushed the button, converting the jet from vertical mode to conventional.
At this point, the Helmet display went dark again, and it seemed to be rebooting. The pilot tried contacting his wingman and the control tower, but the communication equipment was out, too. When the Helmet display came back to life, it had 25 messages signaling big trouble with the aircraft. Thirty seconds had already passed.
The helmet and main display went out for the third time, and this time it seemed they were powering down. Without the instrument and visibility, Del Pizzo had nothing to guide the aircraft home. He tried to look down through the small backup panel between his legs, but he could not orient himself about his location.
After 41 seconds into the emergency, Del Pizzo decided to act, pulling the yellow handle between his legs. Del Pizzo expected the aircraft to follow him to the ground. But the jet climbed at a 5-degree angle to about 9,300 feet and descended in a long right turn. It flew without a pilot for 11 minutes and 21 seconds at an average speed of at least 350 mph before it crashed near a swamp and fields in Indiantown.
Three investigations were carried out into the incidents leading up to his ejection. Two cleared him of any wrongdoing. The two investigations underscored that no training prepared the pilots for the slew of emergencies in such severe weather and low altitude. The F-35B’s flight manual said, “the aircraft is considered to be in out of controlled flight (OCF) when it fails to respond properly to pilot inputs,” adding, “if out of control below 6,000 feet AGL (above ground level): EJECT.”
Both investigations agreed that most highly experienced pilots with similar levels of experience in an F-35 would have punched out of the plane if faced with a similar situation like Del Pizzo.
The third was the Marines’ Command Investigation. These probes have a limited scope to ascertain whether the pilot engaged in misconduct. The findings of these investigations can be made public. The officer in charge of the command investigation came to a different conclusion.
While agreeing that Del Pizzo followed laid down procedures under emergency, and that the pilot didn’t engage in any misconduct; the report found that the mishap “occurred as a result of pilot error, in that the MP (mishap pilot) incorrectly diagnosed an OCF flight emergency and ejected from a flyable aircraft.”
The report put the cost of the plane’s loss at US$136 million.
Del Pizzo had taken over the command of the VMX1 in Arizona. However, a few months into his tenure, he was relieved of his command following the release of the Marines’ Command Investigation. He was unceremoniously shunted out of the command, and soon 300 Marines, sailors, and civilians under his command in Yuma were told that he had been relieved for “misdiagnosis of an out-of-control flight situation.”
