Newly released body camera footage from the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office shows the moments after a US Marine Corps pilot ejected from an F/A-18 Hornet that crashed during a training exercise in Washington state in June, sparking a small wildfire on a mountainside near Rimrock Lake.
The footage, released mid-August 2026 and first reported by Military Times, shows the pilot walking up to a sheriff’s deputy along a roadway shortly after the crash, his face covered in blood as he speaks on the phone. When asked what type of aircraft had gone down, the pilot responded, “That’s an F-18. Well, that was an F-18.”
Pilot recounts crash: “I tucked in, and I’m not sure exactly”
In the roughly hour-and-45-minute video, the pilot describes the moments leading up to the ejection. “We were doing circles over the lake, doing some low-level training,” he said. “And then I tucked in, and I’m not sure exactly. Honestly, I’m a little frazzled.” He later told the deputy he had come over a treeline and hit trees before ejecting, prompting a witness on the phone to remark, “Damn bud, you got to fly higher.”
Despite the visible injuries to his face, the pilot appeared composed throughout the encounter, at one point telling the officer he was “very, very lucky to be alive,” to which the deputy responded, “That’s about as close as it gets.”
The footage also shows the deputy accompanying the pilot into the woods to retrieve his gear, including a vest, pack, and helmet, along with his oxygen mask and the parachute that had become tangled in the trees during the ejection. Paramedics later examined the pilot for minor lacerations to his face and hands before he was taken to a hospital for further evaluation.
The crash, the fire, and the ongoing investigation
According to a statement from the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing,the incident occurred at approximately noon on June 13, 2026, when an F/A-18 Hornet assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 11 experienced a “non-fatal aviation mishap” during a routine training exercise roughly 55 miles southeast of Seattle.
The pilot ejected safely and was recovered by local authorities. The aircraft crashed into a mountainside near Rimrock Lake and Bear Cove in Yakima County, sparking what local officials called the Pine Tree Fire, which burned roughly two acres before ground and air crews contained it.
The Marine Corps said the cause of the mishap remains under investigation, noting that such investigations can take several months to complete depending on various factors.
Officials had not confirmed at the time whether the crash directly caused the wildfire, though bodycam audio captures a deputy telling someone on the phone, “We got the hillside on fire where the jet landed.”
Part of a string of recent military aircraft incidents
The Hornet crash is one of several US military aviation mishaps reported this year.
On July 31, 2026, an F-35B stealth fighter crashed near Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, with the pilot ejecting safely and sustaining non-life-threatening injuries, according to the Marine Corps.
According to the Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety Network database, at least seven other military aircraft mishaps have occurred in the US so far in 2026.