Parts of crashed F-35A recovered from ocean floor: Minister

May 7, 2019

Tokyo--Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said Tuesday that parts of an Air Self-Defense Force F-35A stealth fighter that crashed into the Pacific Ocean in early April have been recovered from the ocean floor.

The state-of-the-art fighter, which belonged to the ASDF's Misawa base in Aomori Prefecture, northeastern Japan, disappeared from radar on April 9 during an exercise off the prefecture after its pilot declared the drill over.

The ministry is continuing its efforts to find the remaining parts and the missing pilot, Maj. Akinori Hosomi, 41.

According to Iwaya, ocean research vessel Kaimei, owned by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, found the parts of the flight recorder and a windshield on the ocean floor some 1,500 meters below sea level at a point some 135 kilometers east of the base.

The part of the heavily damaged recorder that keeps track of altitude, speed and other data has yet to be found. Jiji Press