Our aerial brethren are short an aircraft this morning – and may be short one pilot.
The 162nd Fighter Wing, Arizona ANG, based in Tucson, AZ, lost an aircraft last night. The bird – an F-16 – went down near Douglas, AZ, during a night training operation.
The status of the aircraft’s pilot is not currently known. If you’re inclined to pray, a prayer for that individual’s safe recovery might be in order.
The military is a risky business, both in war and peace.
…IIRC, even with all the targeting pods we can hang on the Viper, night flying is still done with a set of NVGs attached to the helmet. ‘Dangerous’ would be a step up.
Mike
Not good at all. I hope the pilot had a chance to bail out.
Praying the pilot ejected and is okay.
Local paper says it went down about 8PM last night near the Cochise county fairgrounds. No info yet on the pilot, everybody pray.
If he was flying generally south at the time and ejected, he might be OK – terrain north of Douglas is relatively flat. Ditto if he was flying east and ejected fairly late.
Terrain in other directions seems pretty rough. Let’s hope he wasn’t heading west or north.
http://www.svherald.com/content/local-news/2015/06/25/397079
Hey D. so this was a Iraqi pilot and not two ???.. And they were training out of ANG-TIA ??? Saw this on TVup here in T-Town last night . Hope he is ok or both
We get F-16’s out of TIA and Luke all the time, A-10’s from DM, and C-130’s from God knows where. Report said the first plane banked over Douglas normally, the second banked and dropped out of the sky.
Here is a link that may work it’s from the commie start about the pilot
http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Ftucne.ws%2F1BDSHUx&h=yAQHuk3cuAQE7ammFI02cxJoJQQELni8YwNE7a8DhXvAC1g&enc=AZOdPJmuZCBneB3g5d10Zi0Dxvc91UjGoqrOsPw-CWlD3r-YEb_JXLMnHQSqC3IyZQQryBt53Auu0LN4LfaVYdc8kSpiyI_gh6atHPtJcB2z5q4gVyASteWHkQ6-40VoY7bqMXDZ2Q6GcwIWyESbBqlYO_wNyM5Tm0h-yccnhqS8NiAUB0vspWn8Fi7E7iSaAiZDegc7bn-JlzUt2miF4qMz&s=1
Prayers out that the pilot is safe.
ABC News is reporting that the Iraqi MOD says pilot was an Iraqi pilot who has been “training in the US for four years”. No other other confirmation seems available.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/military-plane-crashes-southern-arizona-sparks-fire-32014332
Pilot’s status is still not known.
ISIS is taking credit for the crash – I kid, of course.
Update: the USAF has confirmed the pilot of the downed jet was Iraqi vice American. It also appears the jet was one purchased by Iraq that had yet to be delivered to Iraq.
http://news.yahoo.com/iraqi-f-16-fighter-jet-crashes-arizona-during-180026182–abc-news-topstories.html
The pilot’s identity does not appear to have been released. His status remains officially “unknown” – though at this point, it’s not looking good.
Godspeed to that pilot, wherever he is from.
It’s good to know that some Iraqi’s are still fighting for their country. Even if it is in an F-16 in Arizona.
The whole thing is a huge mess and I cannot see anything but bad results from our foreign policy of late.