The U.S. Navy said it has begun making preparations to salvage an F-35C warplane had a “landing mishap” in the South China Sea on Monday. Seven sailors were injured after the fighter jet “had a landing mishap on deck while USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) was conducting routine flight operations,” a Jan. 24 statement from the Navy said. Lt. Nicholas Lingo, spokesperson for the U.S. 7th Fleet, said on Tuesday that the  F-35C Joint Strike Fighter jet “impacted the flight deck during landing” and subsequently fell to the water. “The U.S. Navy is making recovery operations arrangements for the F-35C aircraft,” he said. The Navy said on Monday that the pilot ejected safely in the incident, but was among the personnel hurt. “The pilot is in stable condition. There were seven total Sailors injured,” Monday’s statement said. Three of the sailors were evacuated to a medical facility in Manila, Philippines. …