In a surprising turn of events, the US Air Force’s F-35 was reported to have taken flight without a pilot, sparking a wave of memes and jokes across the internet. As netizens grasped this bewildering scenario, humor became their language of interpretation, leading to an outpouring of content that winked at sci-fi scenarios and questioned the need for Top Gun school if planes could just fly themselves.

One popular meme showed a photoshopped F-35 in a classroom full of drones with the caption “First day at school,” suggesting that even advanced fighter jets need education. Another showed the jet with a speech bubble saying “You don’t need pilots when you have style,” paired with sunglasses emoticons, alluding to its autonomous swagger.

The jokes didn’t stop there. Twitter users quipped about the jet joining Zoom calls for remote pilots, while Reddit threads speculated on whether the AI had watched too much ‘Knight Rider’ and decided to take matters into its own ‘wings’. LinkedIn posts were full of executives pondering over whether they should upgrade their self-driving cars to self-flying jets for their commutes.

Moreover, Disney memes joined the trend with an edited scene from “Planes,” replacing Dusty Crophopper’s face with the F-35’s front profile; this one captioned “Dusty’s got nothing on me.” Even professional comedians involved in late-night TV couldn’t resist poking fun by imagining scenario skits like “F-35 Declares Itself Self-Employed” and discussing who gets the paycheck – the jet or the absent pilot.

It seems that from serious defense forums to laid-back social media platforms, everyone has had their take on this aerial anomaly. The phenomenon might raise questions about artificial intelligence and future warfare, but for now, it has certainly taken off in the world of internet culture as one of the most meme-orable events in recent pilotless history.