Newly released police bodycam footage from Washington state captures a scene that sounds more like a movie script than a routine training flight: a blood-streaked Marine pilot, moments after ejecting from a combat jet that slammed into the side of Mount Rainier, calmly strolling along a road and greeting responding deputies as if he were out for an afternoon walk.
Officers with the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office encountered Marine Maj. Jackson Simon on June 13, shortly after his F/A-18 Hornet crashed near Rimrock Lake, according to CBS News. The video, obtained and published by CBS, shows Simon walking with a slight stagger, blood visible on his face and flight suit, as deputies approach.
“Hey, sir, how are you?” Simon says nonchalantly in the footage, according to the report.
“Good! Are you the only pilot?” one of the officers replies. Simon confirms he was alone in the aircraft.
The pilot later described the moments before the crash, telling officers he had been “doing circles over the lake” as part of a low-level training exercise. “We were doing circles over the lake, doing some low-level training,” he said, per the bodycam audio. “And then I tucked in, and I’m not sure exactly, honestly, I’m a little bit frazzled.”
Simon also mentioned that he “went through some trees” during the sequence.
Crash caused fire, power line contact under investigation
According to CBS News, Simon’s jet struck a power line as he performed “thunderous, low-flying maneuvers” that dazzled onlookers at the lake. The resulting crash ignited a “sizable brush fire that spread across two acres,” the network reported.
However, military investigators have not yet determined that the power line contact caused the crash, CBS noted. The downed F/A-18 is estimated to have cost “tens of millions of dollars,” the outlet added.
In a statement to Fox News, the Marine Corps characterized the incident as a “non-fatal aviation mishap.” The service declined to confirm to the Military Times whether the mishap was also responsible for the fire.
Yet the bodycam footage tells a more vivid story. In one exchange, an officer can be heard telling someone on the phone that “we got the hillside on fire where the jet landed,” according to the video reviewed by The Gateway Pundit.
Pilot’s calm call: “I just crashed”
The video also captures Simon making a remarkably composed phone call to a friend shortly after the crash. “Hey, buddy, this is Major Simon, I just crashed,” he says, according to CBS.
That nonchalance seemed to define his encounter with law enforcement. The deputies who found him appear visibly stunned, but Simon remains composed throughout, even as blood streaks run down his face.
Witnesses called 911, first report at 12:18 p.m.
Some lakeside bystanders who watched the military exercise called 911 after seeing Simon eject, Fox News reported. An incident report shows the first call came in at 12:18 p.m. local time, according to the outlet.
Seattle-based KING-TV also interviewed witnesses, though their accounts were not detailed in the source material.
Recent string of military aviation incidents
Task & Purpose noted that the Mount Rainier crash was one of several incidents involving military aircraft in recent months. The outlet pointed to an F-35B from the same Marine Corps unit that crashed in Southern California last month, as well as a B-52 crash at Edwards Air Force Base that killed three civilians and five airmen, and an AH-64 Apache helicopter crash in Texas last week that killed two soldiers.
The Marine Corps has not released further details about the cause of the June 13 crash or the status of the investigation. Simon’s survival, and his remarkably calm demeanor, have made the bodycam footage an instant point of public fascination.
The video, shared by CBS Evening News on social media, shows the immediate aftermath of a high-speed ejection and crash — and a pilot who, by all appearances, walked away with his wits about him.
Source: www.thegatewaypundit.com — https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/08/incredible-footage-police-roll-blood-streaked-man-middle/