Debris field found in search for missing F-35 in South Carolina, officials say

[Igel]

9. I wonder what the craft's altitude was.

What the problem was.

Part of me wants to say, "Pilot had no choice--abandon the plane when it was clear that it was going to crash." But you'd expect the crash to be close to the ejection site.

Part of me also wants to say, "Plane kept going farther than expected. Did the pilot really have to eject or just panicked?" Now, "have to eject" meant might there was a real problem or the avionics gave spurious readings.

Why the difference?

These birds aren't (a) plentiful or (b) cheap.

I'm sure I'm not the only one not just grateful that the pilot's life was saved but at the same time curious as to what, exactly happened *and* why the plane wasn't better tracked.

Then again, barring a much celebrated leak of utterly classified information that we all approve of (because we're curious, and our opinion matters), I'll never know. (In other words, between vain curiosity and actual concern, I'm entirely in favor of not having a clue about what happened.)