The wreckage of a US Navy Lockheed Martin F-35C which crashed upon landing on the USS Carl Vinson on 24 January has been recovered from the floor of the South China Sea by a commercial salvage vessel.

The aircraft was landing aboard the carrier when leaked footage showed it appearing to undershoot the arrestor wires and suffer a ramp strike. The footage showed the aircraft bounce, its undercarriage collapse, and it slid along the angled flightdeck in flames before disappearing over the ship’s side into the ocean. The pilot ejected, but he and six of the Vinson’s crew were injured.

A 3 March report in US Naval Institute (USNI) News says the aircraft was recovered by a team from the US Navy and the commercial diving support construction vessel (DSCV) Picasso from 12,400 feet of water, about 100km west of the Philippine island of Luzon.

“The aircraft was recovered using a CURV-21, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), which attached specialised rigging and lift lines to the aircraft,” a US Navy statement reads. “The ship’s crane lifting hook was then lowered to the seafloor and connected to the rigging, and then lifted the aircraft to the surface and hoisted it onboard Picasso.”