Interesting. So far no real evidence for that, just the open question of “why jump out of an evidently flyable jet?”
Off top of head I can think of a couple of other potential reasons.
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Spatial disorientation such that the pilot’s gyros got so confused they couldn’t control the airplane even though it was on a reasonably even keel. Jumping out at low altitude under those circumstances would be be the book answer. There have been reports of major bad weather in the area at the time.
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Lightning strike. Between startle and perhaps knocking out some of the fully-computerized instruments and displays, the pilot may have hastily concluded the thing wasn’t flyable while he was still in the clouds and close to the ground. The pilot then jumps out, the computers self-reset, and the airplane toddles off solo to its eventual crunchy fate.
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There have been a spate of issues over the years with the oxygen supply system of the F-35. Resulting in partial asphyxiation, hypoxia, and some degree of panic attack. USN & USMC T-45 & F/A-18s went around that bush for awhile too. Of course once this starts occurring around the fleet, pilots get over-sensitized and a certain amount of mass hysteria causes additional events of simple nerves and overexertion to be reported as malfunctions. Jumping out at low altitude, versus just removing your face mask seems like a more reasonable response, but suddenly being unable to breath has a way of occupying all your brain bytes in a manner non-conducive to calm rational reflection.
As to the airplane on “autopilot” I rather suspect that’s more a matter of computerized fly-by-wire airplanes having artificial stability. Such that in the absence of control inputs the computers will keep the thing going dead-straight ahead & level. Unlike an old fashioned airplane that is stable-ish over a term of seconds but will inevitably wander off into a spiral dive within a minute or two. Especially when just de-stabilized by the loss of a bunch of weight forward when the seat and pilot and canopy depart, plus very different airflow and drag around the now-weird fuselage.