F 22 Missing, in Alaska

[skyrider 0]

11/17/2010 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (AFNS) -- An F-22 Raptor assigned to the 3rd Wing here lost contact with air traffic control at 7:40 p.m. local time while on a routine training mission Nov. 16.

A search is underway and is being coordinated by officials with the Alaska Air National Guard Rescue Coordination Center. Airmen in HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters and an HC-130 King are combing an area northeast of Cantwell, Alaska, the last known location of the aircraft.

"Right now, our top priority is to try to bring the pilot home safely," said Col. Jack McMullen, the 3rd Wing commander. "We will continue to search until we find our pilot. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of this missing Airman."

Per Department of Defense policy, the name of the pilot is being withheld until his condition is determined.

More information will be released as it becomes available.

(Courtesy of 3rd Wing Public Affairs)
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123231186

[turtlespeed 221]

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11/17/2010 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (AFNS) -- An F-22 Raptor assigned to the 3rd Wing here lost contact with air traffic control at 7:40 p.m. local time while on a routine training mission Nov. 16.

A search is underway and is being coordinated by officials with the Alaska Air National Guard Rescue Coordination Center. Airmen in HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters and an HC-130 King are combing an area northeast of Cantwell, Alaska, the last known location of the aircraft.

"Right now, our top priority is to try to bring the pilot home safely," said Col. Jack McMullen, the 3rd Wing commander. "We will continue to search until we find our pilot. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of this missing Airman."

Per Department of Defense policy, the name of the pilot is being withheld until his condition is determined.

More information will be released as it becomes available.

(Courtesy of 3rd Wing Public Affairs)
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123231186

It wasn't carying any nukes was it?

And just where is John Travolta right now?

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[dgskydive 0]

It is amazing to me that they cant find an F22 that went down. You would assume that those things are so plugged in, they would be able to know if the pilot farted, let alone where it crashes.

Dom

[turtlespeed 221]

Better have Palin bend over, spread and cough!

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[marks2065 0]

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Better have Palin bend over, spread and cough!

maybe Palin can see it from her house HaHa.

shouldn't there be a tracking beacon on the plane?

[dgskydive 0]

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Better have Palin bend over, spread and cough

I don't like her politics, but if she bent over and coughed in front of me. I wouldn't hate her.

Dom

[dgskydive 0]

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shouldn't there be a tracking beacon on the plane?

That what I'm saying. How can you have a plane like that and no way to find it if it crashes?

Dom

[KidWicked 0]

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shouldn't there be a tracking beacon on the plane?

That what I'm saying. How can you have a plane like that and no way to find it if it crashes?

pilot probably committed suicide

Coreece: "You sound like some skinheads I know, but your prejudice is with Christians, not niggers..."

[dgskydive 0]

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pilot probably committed suicide

Even if that is the case. Still doesn't answer why the Govt wouldn't have something in place to find a downed plane. Especially an advanced fighter like that.

Dom

[Amazon 7]

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pilot probably committed suicide

Even if that is the case. Still doesn't answer why the Govt wouldn't have something in place to find a downed plane. Especially an advanced fighter like that.

Trust me on this one... AK is one BIG ASS place... and once you get away from SE AK.... not a hell of a lot of people or settlements. It may be advanced but if you ever walk a crash site looking for the pieces of an aircraft that come in contact with terra way too firma at a high rate of speed... there are just not a lot of big pieces to find of the airplane.. or the pilot

I hope he used his crotch handle and got the hell out and not try just one more thing to save the bird that has killed so many jet drivers.

[masterrig 1]

I just hope, somehow, the pilot is all-right. If he went down with the plane, they just might, find some DNA and that'd be about it.


Chuck

[quade 4]

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shouldn't there be a tracking beacon on the plane?

They don't always survive a crash. In fact, it's one of the better ways to determine right up front that something went horribly wrong rather than the pilot made a "safe" landing.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Amazon 7]

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I just hope, somehow, the pilot is all-right. If he went down with the plane, they just might, find some DNA and that'd be about it.


Chuck

Its a LOT harder to find pieces in the winter.... in summer you get help from odd sources

[quade 4]

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pilot probably committed suicide

It's happened before, but it's not the way most pilots end up dead so your "probably" is probably a horrible guess.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[quade 4]

Right now there is probably a pilot dead or dying.

Stay classy.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[JohnRich 4]

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It is amazing to me that they cant find an F22 that went down. You would assume that those things are so plugged in, they would be able to know if the pilot farted, let alone where it crashes.

See attached map. The red star is Cantwell, AK. This is the area in which it is reported missing. Can you see how it might be difficult to find something out there? This is in the area of Denali National Park - there are hikers missing out there that have never been found. Alaska is full of aircraft wrecks, and missing pilots.

[Amazon 7]

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It is amazing to me that they cant find an F22 that went down. You would assume that those things are so plugged in, they would be able to know if the pilot farted, let alone where it crashes.

See attached map. The red star is Cantwell, AK. This is the area in which it is reported missing. Can you see how it might be difficult to find something out there? This is in the area of Denali National Park - there are hikers missing out there that have never been found. Alaska is full of aircraft wrecks, and missing pilots.

This time of year also has some pretty short daylight hours... and it is about -10 below zero F in Fairbanks right now

Rising and setting times for the Sun
Length of day Solar noon
Date Sunrise Sunset This day Difference Time Altitude Distance
(106 km)
Nov 17, 2010 9:34 AM 3:37 PM 6h 03m 25s − 6m 26s 12:36 PM 6.2° 147.893
Nov 18, 2010 9:37 AM 3:34 PM 5h 57m 02s − 6m 22s 12:36 PM 5.9° 147.861
Nov 19, 2010 9:41 AM 3:31 PM 5h 50m 42s − 6m 20s 12:36 PM 5.7° 147.829
Nov 20, 2010 9:44 AM 3:28 PM 5h 44m 25s − 6m 17s 12:37 PM 5.5° 147.799
Nov 21, 2010 9:47 AM 3:26 PM 5h 38m 11s − 6m 13s 12:37 PM 5.3° 147.769
Nov 22, 2010 9:51 AM 3:23 PM 5h 32m 02s − 6m 09s 12:37 PM 5.1° 147.740
Nov 23, 2010 9:54 AM 3:20 PM 5h 25m 56s − 6m 05s 12:37 PM 4.9° 147.711

[skyrider 0]

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Right now there is probably a pilot dead or dying.

Stay classy.

The Ods of survival, I'd think very slim, they had to know where he was when he fell off radar .....seems to me like a total failure, or explosion in mid air!

[rushmc 23]

Its been found

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/11/17/air-force-fighter-jet-missing-alaska/

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[masterrig 1]

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I just hope, somehow, the pilot is all-right. If he went down with the plane, they just might, find some DNA and that'd be about it.


Chuck

Its a LOT harder to find pieces in the winter.... in summer you get help from odd sources

You're right there! One good snow and chances are lessened. I hate to think of the other...


Chuck

[skyrider 0]

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Its been found

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/11/17/air-force-fighter-jet-missing-alaska/

Pilot still missing!

[rushmc 23]

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Its been found

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/11/17/air-force-fighter-jet-missing-alaska/

Pilot still missing!

Ya

Didnt read like the rescue teams had gotten there yet

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[BikerBabe 0]

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I hope he used his crotch handle and got the hell out and not try just one more thing to save the bird that has killed so many jet drivers.

Funny you say that about the f-22. Those of us from the engineering and acquisition world(s) know the massive political fuck-ups that the yf-22/yf-23 fly-off and production decision were.

By all accounts, the yf-23 was the FAR superior choice, but the companies and the politicians fixed the fly-off so that no GOOD comparative data was ever collected, virtually insuring Lockheed would have a lock on the contract, even though Northrop made the superior product. For example, something as simple as having the same pilots fly both planes -- nope...didn't happen. not ONE pilot who tested the yf-22 ever flew the yf-23, and vice versa. Kinda tough to get an objective comparison, eh?

Not to mention, Lockheed added supercruise (the ability to cruise supersonically) even though the requirements documents mentioned NO need for that ability, and most pre-production analyses even argued that supercruise was not only unnecessary, but potentially unsafe. But Lockheed is full of masterful salesmen, able to sell ice to eskimos...and that's how the f-22 got chosen over the f-23.

Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

[steve1 5]

There are some big mountains north of Anchorage. It would be easy to fly a plane into one, particularly in bad weather.

I was sheep hunting north of Anchorage many years ago. (Middle of nowhere). I was hiking through an unnamed valley when I came upon airplane parts scattered over a hundred yard swath. I'll bet that pilot didn't survive either. That's one dangerous place to fly in....

[Amazon 7]

Supercruise.... I know the new seats have some added capabilities nowadays and my training is 1970's dated but punching out at those speeds has to pose some serious issues for pilot survival. I have seen fisthand what an asskicking a pilot gets when he pulls the handles and that was at aMUCH lower speed.

I have very personal knowledge of what getting unstable in a speed dive at 300 MPH feels like and that shit hurts.