Franklin Macon is a 92-year old Tuskegee Airman who spent his early years training other pilots — with the majority of his time spent at an airfield that would eventually become the US Air Force Academy:
One of Macon’s jobs with the Army Air Corps was to train cadet pilots on what became the Academy airfield. He spent the majority of the war flying here, and never saw overseas combat.
Macon says he ruptured his ear drums on a sortie just Read more
The Air Force announced that the 2016 Undergraduate Flying Training board would meet in January to select aviators for training next year. The board includes all aviators — pilot, RPA, CSO, and ABM. Read more
The NTSB released initial findings (full NTSB report here) regarding the July 7th midair between a US Air Force F-16 and a civilian Cessna 150.
The F-16 pilot was apparently on a single ship instrument sortie, practicing approaches first at Myrtle Beach, then at Charleston AFB. The Cessna took off from a local field and was not in contact with Air Traffic Control, and he was not required to be. ATC called out the (unknown) Cessna Read more
Capt William DuBois of Shaw AFB died in December when he crashed near a classified base. According to the recently released accident report, DuBois was apparently unaware he was descending to the ground until the last minute, when it was too late to recover. Read more
A US Air Force T-6A Texan II experienced an engine failure in April, and solo instructor pilot Capt Eric Clements safely recovered it to Vance AFB in Enid, Oklahoma. The incident was reportedly in the local press (and then picked up at the Stars and Stripes and Military.com), and Clements was quoted being somewhat effusive in praise about his own performance:
“It was beautiful,” he said with a smile. “It was really one of my better ELPs (emergency landing patterns) I had ever done.”
Since he teaches students to handle emergencies such as the one he faced, Clements was asked what grade he would give himself for his work that day.
“I would have graded myself an excellent,” he said. “I want to be humble Read more
Update: An Associated Press article adds additional information, indicating the F-16 was single-ship, operating under ATC control practicing instrument approaches:
At the time of the collision, Maj. Johnson was flying solo, practicing instrument approaches to a military base and was communicating with Charleston air traffic controllers, according to Col. Stephen Jost, commander of the 20th Fighter Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base.
Jost said he thought it was overcast at the time of the collision, but he was not aware of any weather-related problems.
A Shaw AFB-based F-16 collided with a civilian Cessna in South Carolina, resulting in the ejection of the F-16 pilot and the deaths of the two people on board the General Aviation aircraft. Using their Facebook page, the base announced: Read more
David Axe at the blog War is Boring reportedly obtained an Official Use Only report from an Edwards AFB Test Pilot decrying the inability of his F-35 to best the older F-16 it is supposedly intended to replace:
“The evaluation focused on the overall effectiveness of the aircraft in performing various specified maneuvers in a dynamic environment,” the F-35 tester wrote. “This consisted of traditional Basic Fighter Maneuvers in offensive, defensive and neutral setups at altitudes ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 feet…”
“Even with the limited F-16 target configuration, the F-35A remained at a distinct energy disadvantage for every engagement,” the pilot reported.
One potentially saving grace not explicitly described in the blog is the precise type of BFM the two were flying. The blog reported: Read more
An Iraqi fighter pilot was killed in Arizona while flying with an Air National Guard F-16 unit last week:
An F-16 Fighting Falcon flying with the 162nd Wing, Arizona Air National Guard, crashed at about 8 p.m. June 24, five miles east of Douglas Municipal Airport, Arizona.
A single F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft that crashed Wednesday night in southern Arizona was being flown by an Iraqi pilot who has been training in the U.S. for four years, an official said Thursday.
The pilot was apparently Brig. Gen. Rafid Mohammed Hassan.
ADVERTISEMENT