Capt Francis Imlay was killed in Southwest Asia in the crash of his F-15E Strike Eagle. Reports indicate a second crewmember, normally a backseat WSO/CSO in the Strike Eagle, sustained minor injuries. The aircraft was reportedly deployed from Mountain Home AFB in Idaho.
Interestingly, none of the brief announcements to date indicate the crew ejected.
As usual, a board will convene to investigate the crash.
Another US Air Force article highlights the tradition of Mustache March, which is rapidly coming to an end.
From the master of the T-top Trans Am, Burt Reynolds, to the bad boy of breakfast buffets, Ron Swanson, powerful males around the world share one feature that is the universal symbol of manhood: the mustache.
“Mustache March,” an Air Force tradition with roots going back to the Vietnam era, is a 31-day, fuzzy-lipped free-for-all Read more
A US Air Force F-16 based out of Osan Air Base, Korea, crashed on Wednesday. The pilot was reportedly “safe” after ejecting.
An Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed near Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, during a routine training mission at approximately March 21.
The aircraft, assigned to the 36th Fighter Squadron here, was flying a mission as part of the 51st Fighter Wing’s ongoing exercise.
As usual, a board will investigate for about a month. An accident report will likely make its way to the general public several months from now.
Also noted at FoxNews and the Air Force Times.
An official DoD article notes the fighter pilot tradition of Mustache March:
It happens every March like clockwork—men from all across the Air Force, who may otherwise normally be clean-shaven, grow out their cookie dusters, much to the amusement of many around them.
As noted here, the tradition is linked to BrigGen Robin Olds,
Olds was frequently at odds with senior leaders, and had his ways of defying the establishment—most famously (or infamously), the decidedly out-of-regs, heavily waxed handlebar mustache Read more
The widow of Capt Jeff Haney, killed in the November 2010 crash of an F-22 in Alaska, is suing the contractors who built the plane — which includes Lockheed, Boeing, Honeywell, and Pratt & Whitney.
It states that the aircraft was sold with known defective on-board oxygen generating system, bleed air system and other life support systems. “The life support systems of the F-22 Raptor aircraft were and are completely and wholly inadequate,” the lawsuit states.
In the mishap that keeps coming back to the Air Force, the IG recently Read more
Col Andrew Toth, the wing commander at Eglin, called the first F-35 sortie there a “milestone for the program.”
In perhaps the most ironic of circumstances, the flight was cut short by an in-flight emergency on the vaunted new Read more
US Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz and Iraqi Air Force Commander Staff LtGen Anwer Hamad Amin Ahmad visited Laughlin Air Force Base to see the graduation of LtGen Anwer’s son, Capt Mohammed Hama Ameen, from USAF Undergraduate Pilot Training.
“I am proud of him today because he is new,” said Anwer, who Read more
The Federal Aviation Administration has begun the process that would ultimately allow unmanned aircraft to fly freely in US airspace, as opposed to the limited and restricted ability they have to currently operate. It is seeking public input in to how to set up ranges for UAV testing that would ultimately lead to free flying UAVs:
The new law gives the FAA three years — two less than it took Congress to pass the act – to “integrate” UAVs into the national air space, or NAS, meaning set policies that will let drones share the air with piloted aircraft.
UAVs have proven reasonably reliable. Just like humans, they only fly off uncontrolled every now and then.