Was it of the plane the pilot exited? It might just be a weather balloon. Did it look like this? 
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NEWS FLASH! UPDATE! (This is sarcasm folkās chill out)
Puddinā Head in his psychic wisdom has just announced a BREAK Through technology (given to him by the Aliens)ā¦ (āOpen the door Dave17ā) that the Next Generation 'Stealth" fighters will be made out of a Synthetic (carbon free) Rubber. No Dinosaurs will be harmed in itās production, so the next time an aircraft is stolenā¦I mean has a malfunction it will BOUNCE and can be recovered INTACT! according to the D.O.D! That bastion of Honesty and Security that brought you the $3000 Toilet seat and the $800 screwdriver (that has since shown up on Home Depotās shelves for the consumer price of $8.99.
This article is brought to you by āCapt. Obviousā :this is TOP SECRET News so please donāt tell anybodyā¦
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! 
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HAL, I am pulling out your memory cards.
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OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Sluggo!
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Who the hell thought it was a good idea to give marines a $100million jet in the first place
Did it come with crayons?
I bet they forgot the crayons and that caused the problem.
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Mehā¦ seems par for the course. If āweather balloonsā can travel all over the country w/o setting off alarms, then why canāt an F35 - our most advanced fighter - just disappear like a fart in the wind?
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That was a GREAT song by Kansas wasnāt it? 
Faaaaaaaaaaart in the winnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd, all we are is farts in the wind! Chorus: Cāmon EVERYBODY! "ALL we are is farts in the Wind!
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Now that made me laugh
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A few points that need clarification:
1- A mishap is a military service term for any incident that causes the loss of an airplane, human life or substantially valuable assets, the AF uses the same term as the Marines and I believe all branches do. The media that prints the word in quotes to show some sort of sarcasm or condescension just shows their ignorance and is using it as click-bait.
2- When the F-35 operates within the USA it has reflectors attached that allow radars to track it. The FAA requires it for safety.
3- The systems of the F-35 allow the plane to automatically eject a pilot under some circumstances including a catastrophic failure that will not allow the plane to land safely. The plane is worth $80 Million, the pilot is worth much, MUCH more.
4- A totally disabled fighter jet can cover 80 miles in a blink, much of it dependent on airframe condition and altitude. These are not passenger buses like the ones we normally observe flying around the sky. I see F-35s flying overhead in low level flight training EVERY day since Iām just a few miles away from Luke AFB.
5- The F-35 systems canāt be hacked.
None of this information is classified, I checked.
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And just like that, facts are provided, ruining our fun.
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While it doesnāt seem possible to hack an F-35 to gain flight control there does seem to be significant concern over the potential to hack them in order to gain information or disrupt other functions.
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Like human imagination, possible, especially when we speculate as the magazine article tries to, is a stretch. It is possible to strike a match on a marshmallow, in theory, but thatās likely never going to happen because itās highly improbable.
What they are hanging their theory on is this statement:
āIn an interview with Defense News , Brig. Gen. Stephen Jost, director of the Air Force F-35 Integration Office, says there are āa lot of nodes of vulnerability that weāre trying to shore up.ā Not only is the worldwide networking system vulnerable, wireless systems used to support the F-35 could also be points of entry for hackers.ā
Anyone in the military machine knows this is adminspeak for āI want more money so Iām scaring you with crap you donāt understand and wonāt question.ā.
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Sooooorrrrrrryyyyy
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Given the number of times companies have informed me that they allowed my personal information to be stolen I think the threat may be more than just theoretical. Especially when you have so many integrated systems constantly communicating with each other. Lots of opportunities to slip into the system either electronically or physically by a spy. Add to that the important military computer components being manufactured by one of our primary potential adversaries and the potential vulnerabilities keep increasing.
Iām actually pretty concerned about how completely dependent on technology our military is. Most of our weapon systems seem to rely on GPS these days. Those signals can be easily scrambled, spoofed or knocked out completely. I know a person in the Marines who said no one in his company knew how to navigate with a map and compass. Without a GPS signal they would all have no idea where to go.
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you are correct about maps. my nephew went through basic training recently. he said they spent a day training with gps units but only several hrs with map reading skills.
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Not being able to read a map or do basic navigation by compass is a big mistake. Iām a boater, and still carry paper charts and a bearing compass. It was only in 2020 that the USCG discontinued the requirement for paper charts onboard. I do have electronic chartplotters, and an old style GPS that gives my coordinates to correlate to my paper charts, but its still a good idea to plot your location manually. What if you take a lightning hit and fry your chart plotter?
Iām pretty old school, though.
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same thing here
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