India, Aug. 28 -- A US Air Force F-35 pilot was forced to eject after nearly an hour spent on a mid-air conference call with engineers, trying unsuccessfully to fix a serious malfunction before the jet crashed on an Alaska runway.

Footage posted on social media earlier this year captured the aircraft spiralling toward the ground before erupting into flames, while the pilot parachuted safely away.

As he attempted to troubleshoot, the jet mistakenly registered itself as being on the ground.

He then joined a call with five Lockheed Martin engineers, circling the base for nearly 50 minutes.

Despite trying two "touch and go" landings to straighten the jammed nose gear, the attempts froze the hydraulics completely.

With the sensors continu...