State-of-the-art US Navy F-18 warplane crashes after pilot ejects at Bahrain airport following malfunction on take off
The £60m fighter jet had taken off from the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf a short while earlier.
A US Navy F-18 fighter has crashed into the runway at Bahrain airport after the pilot ejected seconds before impact.
Shocking pictures taken by 34-year-old cargo pilot Christiaan van Heijst today shows the state-of-the art warplane minutes after it crash landed.
Military leaders have revealed the 2,222mph jet developed a malfunction on take off.
Christiaan was flying as a passenger from Bahrain International Airport, sitting in the lounge at the main terminal when he saw the dramatic smash.
He said: "When we entered the lounge, the crash happened only minutes before.
"Judging from the wreck of the airplane, it ended up 180 degrees turned next to the runway and sustained heavy damage to the fuselage, landing gear and wings.
"The canopy was missing, so I presume the pilot ejected shortly after touching down on the runway. It's a long runway - almost 3500m long."
He told how airport clean-up crews needed sacks to pick up all the debris scattered behind.
"Right now, the wreck is left alone and that part of the runway is closed.
"It seems as if operations will continue from the shorter runway any time until specialised US-navy crews will secure and take care of the F18."
The F-18 took off from the USS Nimitz, an aircraft carrier now in the Persian Gulf, said Cmdr. Bill Urban, a fleet spokesman.
While in flight, the plane suffered an engine malfunction, forcing the pilot to diver.
The pilot initially tried to land at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, but instead had to divert to the island's commercial airport.
"Due to the malfunction, the aircraft could not be stopped on the runway and the pilot ejected from the aircraft as it departed the runway," the commander said in a statement.
The pilot has been reported by Bahrain's Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications to have successfully escaped the aircraft when it ran off the runway.
The £60m F-18 Super Hornet is a twin-engine fighter jet used to set off from and land on aircraft carriers. It costs a reported £20,000-an-hour to keep the warplane in the air.
They are a key part of Donald Trump's plans to "police" the troubled North Korean peninsula.
Bahrain is home to the US Navy 5th Fleet and hosts 8,000 US troops, mostly sailors attached to a sprawling based called the Naval Support Activity.
That base oversees some 20 US and coalition naval vessels in the Gulf providing security and others running anti-piracy patrols.
