Navy pilot rescued after ejecting from fighter jet off Key West

FILE – In this March 19, 2017, file photo, released by the U.S. Navy, an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter prepares to land on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in the Pacific Ocean. The remains of five people and the wreckage of a U.S. Navy helicopter that crashed in the Pacific Ocean off California have been recovered, the Navy said in a statement Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021. An MH-60S helicopter, similar to the one pictured, its two pilots and three other sailors were lost in an Aug. 31 accident about 69 miles (111 kilometers) off the San Diego coast. (Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Ian Kinkead/U.S. Navy via AP, File)

by: Dylan Abad

Posted: May 31, 2023 / 12:11 PM EDT

Updated: May 31, 2023 / 12:48 PM EDT

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Navy pilot is back on land after ejecting from a fighter jet miles off Key West Wednesday morning.

Navy officials said the pilot of a Northrop F-5 Tiger II aircraft was conducting a “routine training” exercise approximately 25 miles off of Key West when something went wrong.

The pilot reportedly ejected from the aircraft only to be rescued by search and rescue crews sometime later. The pilot was then flown to a Miami area hospital for treatment.

According to the U.S. Navy, the F-5N Tiger II is a single-seat, twin-engine, tactical fighter and attack aircraft that provides simulated air-to-air combat training. Another variant of the aircraft sports a dual-seat configuration.

The F-5 aircraft is said to serve in an “aggressor-training role with simulation capabilities of current threat aircraft in fighter-combat mode.”

Further information surrounding the crash was not immediately released.