A US Air Force F-16 pilot who was a member of the Thunderbird demonstration team has died as a result of a crash “during [a] routine training” flight:
“A U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds pilot was killed when his F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed over the Nevada Test and Training Range today at approximately 10:30 a.m. during a routine aerial demonstration training flight,” the Wednesday statement said.
The pilot was Read more
Chaplain (Maj) Kenneth DeVoie is the Wing Chaplain of the 104th Fighter Wing, which flies F-15s out of Massachusetts. He recently spent a year in Korea as the Command Chaplain for Special Operations Command Korea (SOCKOR) in Seoul. While his story is interesting, this paragraph stands out:
This Spiritual Guide credits some of his ability to succeed in that environment back to his experience working with the F-15 Fighter Jet pilots here at the 104th Fighter Wing.
“I think Read more
Martha McSally is a US Representative from Arizona and a former US Air Force A-10 pilot. She recently announced her intention to run for Arizona’s soon-to-be vacant Senate seat. Within that conversation, she defended the coarse language recently used by President Trump:
“I speak a little salty behind closed doors at times as well, so I’m Read more
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
For the past few years each class at the US Air Force Academy has chosen an “exemplar,” a program USAFA describes as an opportunity for the class to
honor and identify with a past military giant, alive or dead.
This year, the USAFA Class of 2020 chose Bob Hoover.
Among other stories,
1st Lt. Robert Hoover, a former Army Air Corps, Air Force and civilian test pilot…of Nashville, Tennessee, was taken captive by the Germans after being shot-down by the Luftwaffe over France during World War II. He spent 16 months in Stalag Luft I, a German POW camp, before sneaking into a German FW-190 aircraft and flying to Holland. It was his fourth attempt to escape the prison.
Though officially 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
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