Recently released body camera footage after a military plane went down in June shows Washington deputies helping the pilot after he had ejected from the aircraft and parachuted safely to the ground.
The unusual encounter happened around noon June 13 when an F/A-18 Hornet jet "experienced a non-fatal aviation mishap" during a training exercise just over 50 miles outside of Seattle, the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing out of Miramar, California, stated in a news release. The plane crashed into a mountainside, but the pilot was able to bail out of the plane in time.
In the footage, which was released by the Yakima County Sheriff's Office last week, the pilot is seen walking up to depuies along a roadway after he had ejected, ABC News reports. He is holding his phone, and his face is bloody as he talks to the deputies.
"That's an F-18," the pilot answered when asked about the type of aircraft that had crashed. "Well, that was an F-18."
Bystander video captured the moment the pilot ejected before his plane went down. Other footage showed the smoking wreckage that set part of the wooded area on fire.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation, according to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.
