After a Hawaiian Air National Guard civilian contractor’s fighter jet crashed off the coast of Honolulu during a training exercise, the military has begun investigation as to what caused the plane to crash.  

The pilot managed to safely eject from the plane, moments before its crash, but is still suffering from traumatic injuries. Luckily, before being transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard, a group of parasailers watched everything happen and took immediate action. “We heard this loud boom and then we saw the pilot eject from the plane and then we see his parachute come out and then the plane went straight into the water,” said a witness. Mack Ladner, a parasail instructor on the boat, jumped into the water to rescue the pilot.  

“It was kind of a lot of adrenaline, I didn’t, I’ve never seen anything like that,” said Ladner. “When I got in the water, you know, I was asking him like ‘are you okay’ and he’s like yeah my back hurts a little bit from the compression and he had a little blood coming out I think it might have been the impact because I mean he was going pretty fast.” 

The pilot had been participating in a military exercise called Sentry Aloha, which involved 800 personnel and 30 aircraft from nine states. The exercise was temporarily suspended and resumed Thursday morning.  

“It could have turned out a lot worse,” said another witness. “It looks like they got him within seconds, and I think the only loss is the plane.”