An F-22 Raptor from Eglin Air Force Base in Florida crashed Friday morning on the base’s test and training range, but its pilot is safe and in stable condition.
The pilot of the F-22 safely ejected, and was taken to the 96th Medical Group hospital at the base for evaluation and observation, Eglin said in a release. The pilot is in stable condition, but was not identified by Eglin.
The jet was from the 43rd Fighter Squadron, part of the 325th Fighter Wing that is now based at Eglin. The range where it crashed is about 12 miles northeast of Eglin’s main base.
The pilot was flying a routine training flight with the 33rd Fighter Wing when it crashed at 9:15 a.m., Eglin said in the release. First responders from the 96th Test Wing arrived at the scene, and an investigation is under way.
Eglin said there was no one else on board, and there was no loss of life or damage to civilian property.
This F-22 was not part of a formation flight that also took off from Eglin Friday morning, the base said. That formation flight included another F-22, an F-35 and a T-38, and flew over Dade County and Panama City.
The 325th is normally located at Tyndall, but moved some of its F-22 operations to Eglin after Hurricane Michael in 2018.
Each F-22 costs about $150 million.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
