An F-35B fighter jet decided to take an unscheduled break from flying on Friday morning, crashing near a US Marine Corps base in San Diego and starting a small fire that first responders promptly extinguished. The pilot, who remains as unidentified as the cause of the crash, ejected safely and was taken to a local medical facility in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the Marine Corps Miramar air base.

The incident has been classified as a "Class A mishap," the military's way of saying 'this was really expensive and/or someone died.' In this case, the damage totals more than $2m, or roughly 2% of the aircraft's $109m price tag. Yes, that's right: each F-35B costs about $109m, which is a lot of money to spend on something that can just plummet into the earth.

Candace Hadley, a spokesperson for San Diego Fire, confirmed that firefighters responded to a vegetation fire sparked near the crash site, but she wisely deferred further questions to Miramar, because nobody wants to speculate about why a $109m jet decided to become a lawn ornament.

The F-35B is the short-takeoff, vertical-landing variant of the stealth fighter, which is a fancy way of saying it can hover like a helicopter when it's not crashing. At least seven other military aircraft mishaps have occurred in the US this year, according to the Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network database, so this is becoming a bit of a trend.

Investigations into such mishaps can take months, so we'll have plenty of time to ponder the mysteries of flight and the resilience of the military-industrial complex. Meanwhile, the Lexington Institute, a think tank that focuses on defense technology and national security, reminds us that F-35s are the safest and most capable fighter jets in the fleet. They've had fewer crashes since adoption in 2015 than other fighters did in their early years, and fatal crashes are rare. So, you know, it could be worse. It's just a $109m hole in the ground and a pilot with a great story.