The US Air Force JROTC program is paying the way for 120 high school cadets to receive a Private Pilot License:
Beginning in the summer of 2018, select AFJROTC cadets who applied for a new Fight Academy scholarship will attend an accredited aviation program at one of six partnering universities to get a private pilot license.
The press release presents it as a means to address Read more
UPDATE: The pilots have now been identified by the Air Force. Capt. Paul J. Barbour, 32, was killed in the crash. Capt. Joshua Hammervold was injured. Both were instructors with the 87th Flying Training Squadron.
A US Air Force T-38 flying out of Laughlin AFB, Texas, crashed on Monday. One of those onboard survived; the other did not. The Air Force withheld the names.
Witnesses cited by the Del Rio News-Herald said they saw a parachute and a lone pilot descend to the ground near the crash.
The aircraft should have been a T-38C, which should have Read more
The Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor recently rolled out a freshly repainted F-16A with the name of retired Air Force Gen Gary “Nordo” North on the cockpit. Gen North — then a LtCol and squadron commander of the 33FS — was flying an F-16 when he shot down a MiG-25 violating the Southern No Fly Zone over Iraq in 1992.
The kill marked the first-ever air-to-air kill by an F-16, and also the first-ever air-to-air kill with an AIM-120 AMRAAM — much to the chagrin of the F-15 Eagles whose sole role was air combat, and who carried the AMRAAM as their exclusive active radar guided missile.
There’s one issue, however. We can forgive Read more
Mitchell Flint, a World War II US fighter pilot who was one of the founding members of the Israeli Air Force, recently passed away. Flint was 94.
Flint was one of the founding members of “Machal,” a group of non-Israelis who fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. He was one of the original members of the Israeli Air Force’s first fighter squadron and Read more
After the Wednesday crash of two A-10s made news last Thursday, the military revealed on Friday that another aircraft had crashed on Tuesday. US Air Force LtCol Eric Schultz died in the crash of an “unspecified” aircraft:
Lt. Col. Eric Schultz was flying an unspecified aircraft at about 6 p.m. over the Nevada Test and Training Range, approximately 100 miles northwest of Nellis Air Force Base, a spokeswoman at the air base said Friday…
“Information about the type of aircraft involved is classified and not releasable,” Maj. Christina Sukach, chief of public affairs…
The tragic death of Doc and the impact on his family — his wife and five kids — has been overshadowed by the secrecy of the news report. The Aviationist speculated on the existence Read more
Various sites reported that two US Air Force A-10s crashed in the ranges near Nellis AFB, Nevada, last Wednesday.
The pilots of both planes ejected safely and were being evaluated Thursday at a military hospital…
The Air Force will investigate and Read more
An Iraqi pilot conducting flight training out of Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, AZ, was killed in a crash on Tuesday.
Maj. Noor Faleh Rassan Al-Khazali was killed when he crashed an F-16 he was piloting Tuesday afternoon in Arizona, the Iraqi military said in a statement.
The aircraft was reportedly owned by Read more
A US Air Force article highlights three AF pilots-in-training who were also part of In the Stairwell as cadets — which began as an unofficial and impromptu singing group at the US Air Force Academy.
This would normally be fair fodder for criticism and jokes to follow them throughout their pilot careers (see, for example, the “crushworthy” KC-135 pilot).
But, in all fairness, they’re actually pretty good: Read more