Hey, buddy, I just crashed: Dramatic new video footage shows pilot walking away from fighter jet crash

Dramatic new footage shows the moment local authorities encountered a pilot who had ejected from a fighter jet before it crashed into a mountainside in Washington state earlier this summer.

The F/A-18 Hornet aircraft slammed into a mountainside on June 13, in the area of Rimrock Lake, about 55 miles southeast of Seattle, sending a plume of black smoke into the air and igniting a wildfire.

The pilot assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, in Miramar, California, is seen with his face bloodied and appearing a little shaken up in the body camera footage released Friday by the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office. 

He is seen approaching deputies with his phone in his hand and 911 on the screen.

“What kind of jet is that?” the pilot is asked by one of the responders. 

“That’s an F-18,” he replies. “Well, that was an F-18.” He adds, “We were doing circles over the lake, doing some low-level training. …And then I tucked in, and I’m not sure exactly.” 

“You hit the tree bad, bud,” a witness states. 

Later, the pilot is seen making a call to alert others to the wreck. 

“Hey, buddy, I just crashed,” the pilot says. 

Later in the video, a parachute is seen hanging from a tree.

Responding officers with the sheriff’s department said the pilot’s injuries consisted of minor lacerations to his face. 

In a news release at the time, the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing said the pilot was conducting routine training when the aircraft experienced a “non-fatal aviation mishap.” 

The cause of the crash is still under investigation.