http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/11/17/ai ... ng-alaska/
Air Force Fighter Jet Missing in Alaska
Published November 17, 2010
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A spokeswoman for Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson says the search is continuing Wednesday for an overdue F-22 fighter jet based at the military facility near Anchorage.
Spokeswoman Corinna Jones said Wednesday that the jet was on a training mission and lost contact with air traffic control at 7:40 p.m. Tuesday Alaska time. The plane carries one pilot.
Jones said the aircraft is assigned to Elmendorf's 3rd Wing.
Air Force Fighter Jet Missing in Alaska
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maddog65
- MAIW Veteran
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Air Force Fighter Jet Missing in Alaska
Les
______________________________________________________________________
"Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game; In the deed the glory."
______________________________________________________________________
"Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game; In the deed the glory."
-
ronniegj
Re: Air Force Fighter Jet Missing in Alaska
Well crap! Hope the guy made it out alright.
Can we order another to replace it before the line shuts down, please!
ron
Can we order another to replace it before the line shuts down, please!
ron
Re: Air Force Fighter Jet Missing in Alaska
I don't like the sounds of this.....
11/17/2010 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- Search and rescue aircraft have discovered the apparent wreckage of an Air Force F-22 assigned to the 3rd Wing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
The aircraft lost contact with air traffic control at 7:40 p.m. Alaska time yesterday while on a nighttime training mission.
To continue searching for the missing pilot, a rescue team is being dispatched to the area, approximately 100 miles north of Anchorage, by the Alaska Air National Guard Rescue Coordination Center, the 3rd Wing and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
Air Force Col. Jack McMullen, 3rd Wing commander, held a press conference at 1 p.m. to make a statement and answer questions from the media.
"Last night a 'two-ship' of F-22s, Rocky one and Rocky three, were finished with training ... about 100 miles north of here," McMullen said.
Everything was normal until about 7:40 p.m., McMullen said, when Rocky three fell off the radar scope and the pilot lost communications.
"The other pilot (Rocky one) went to a tanker, got gas and then continued to look for the mishap pilot," McMullen continued. "He could not find him. At that time, the Alaska Air National Guard scrambled a C-130 and rescue helicopters. They searched the entire night."
About 10:15 a.m., an Alaska Air National Guard helicopter found a site that fits the data and the description of where we thought the mishap probably occurred, McMullen said.
"They found the crash site. They were unable to land at the crash site and take a closer look. We scrambled another helicopter that should be in the area in the next few moments." McMullen said.
McMullen thanked the Alaskan community and Alaska Air National Guard for their support at such a difficult time.
The name of the pilot is being withheld until the pilot's status is determined.
More information will be released as it becomes available.
11/17/2010 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- Search and rescue aircraft have discovered the apparent wreckage of an Air Force F-22 assigned to the 3rd Wing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
The aircraft lost contact with air traffic control at 7:40 p.m. Alaska time yesterday while on a nighttime training mission.
To continue searching for the missing pilot, a rescue team is being dispatched to the area, approximately 100 miles north of Anchorage, by the Alaska Air National Guard Rescue Coordination Center, the 3rd Wing and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
Air Force Col. Jack McMullen, 3rd Wing commander, held a press conference at 1 p.m. to make a statement and answer questions from the media.
"Last night a 'two-ship' of F-22s, Rocky one and Rocky three, were finished with training ... about 100 miles north of here," McMullen said.
Everything was normal until about 7:40 p.m., McMullen said, when Rocky three fell off the radar scope and the pilot lost communications.
"The other pilot (Rocky one) went to a tanker, got gas and then continued to look for the mishap pilot," McMullen continued. "He could not find him. At that time, the Alaska Air National Guard scrambled a C-130 and rescue helicopters. They searched the entire night."
About 10:15 a.m., an Alaska Air National Guard helicopter found a site that fits the data and the description of where we thought the mishap probably occurred, McMullen said.
"They found the crash site. They were unable to land at the crash site and take a closer look. We scrambled another helicopter that should be in the area in the next few moments." McMullen said.
McMullen thanked the Alaskan community and Alaska Air National Guard for their support at such a difficult time.
The name of the pilot is being withheld until the pilot's status is determined.
More information will be released as it becomes available.
-Mike G.
Recovering flight sim addict, constant lurker.
Check out my real life RV-8 build here: RV-8 Builder Log
Recovering flight sim addict, constant lurker.
Check out my real life RV-8 build here: RV-8 Builder Log
Re: Air Force Fighter Jet Missing in Alaska
Sad day...and another 240 million dollar jet gone, and an invaluable pilot (for now). Hope they locate him.
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maddog65
- MAIW Veteran
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Re: Air Force Fighter Jet Missing in Alaska
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/20 ... ssing.html
USAF spots “apparent” F-22 wreckage, pilot still missing
By Stephen Trimble
Aircraft wreckage spotted by a US Air Force search team is believed to be a Lockheed Martin F-22 that disappeared at 7:40pm on 16 November, the USAF says.
The search for the USAF F-22 pilot is continuing nearly 18 hours after air traffic control at the Elemendorf-Richardson joint base in Alaska lost radar contact with the F-22.
The apparent crash site is located about 100 miles north of Anchorage, the USAF says. The pilot, who is not being identified while the rescue effort continues, was flying what the USAF described as a "routine", nighttime, training mission.
"Finding the missing pilot is our top priority," 3rd Wing commander Col Jack McMullen said in a statement.
If the F-22 crash site is confirmed, it will be the third F-22 destroyed since Lockheed advanced past the prototype stage in the early 1990s.
The loss also shrinks the USAF's future F-22 fleet to 185 fighters. Lockheed is currently building the final batch of 20 F-22s scheduled for delivery before March 2012.
To preserve its dwindling fighter inventory, the USAF plans to upgrade all three fly-by-wire types - F-22, F-35 and F-16 - with an automatic ground collision avoidance system (auto-GCAS). The system is designed to take control of the aircraft if the pilot approaches a non-recoverable condition.
It is possible such a system could have spared the most recent F-22 crash, when Lockheed test pilot David Cooley briefly lost situational awareness during a 9g manoeuvre. As he regained awareness, the F-22 was already diving through 14,000ft at M1.6. Cooley ejected a moment before the F-22 crashed, but the aerodynamic forces at M1.4 killed him.
Another F-22 was destroyed on 20 December 2004 on takeoff from Nellis AFB, Nevada. A maintenance procedure triggered a programming glitch that wiped out the F-22 flight control system, and the pilot ejected with minor injuries.
USAF spots “apparent” F-22 wreckage, pilot still missing
By Stephen Trimble
Aircraft wreckage spotted by a US Air Force search team is believed to be a Lockheed Martin F-22 that disappeared at 7:40pm on 16 November, the USAF says.
The search for the USAF F-22 pilot is continuing nearly 18 hours after air traffic control at the Elemendorf-Richardson joint base in Alaska lost radar contact with the F-22.
The apparent crash site is located about 100 miles north of Anchorage, the USAF says. The pilot, who is not being identified while the rescue effort continues, was flying what the USAF described as a "routine", nighttime, training mission.
"Finding the missing pilot is our top priority," 3rd Wing commander Col Jack McMullen said in a statement.
If the F-22 crash site is confirmed, it will be the third F-22 destroyed since Lockheed advanced past the prototype stage in the early 1990s.
The loss also shrinks the USAF's future F-22 fleet to 185 fighters. Lockheed is currently building the final batch of 20 F-22s scheduled for delivery before March 2012.
To preserve its dwindling fighter inventory, the USAF plans to upgrade all three fly-by-wire types - F-22, F-35 and F-16 - with an automatic ground collision avoidance system (auto-GCAS). The system is designed to take control of the aircraft if the pilot approaches a non-recoverable condition.
It is possible such a system could have spared the most recent F-22 crash, when Lockheed test pilot David Cooley briefly lost situational awareness during a 9g manoeuvre. As he regained awareness, the F-22 was already diving through 14,000ft at M1.6. Cooley ejected a moment before the F-22 crashed, but the aerodynamic forces at M1.4 killed him.
Another F-22 was destroyed on 20 December 2004 on takeoff from Nellis AFB, Nevada. A maintenance procedure triggered a programming glitch that wiped out the F-22 flight control system, and the pilot ejected with minor injuries.
Les
______________________________________________________________________
"Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game; In the deed the glory."
______________________________________________________________________
"Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game; In the deed the glory."
-
maddog65
- MAIW Veteran
- Posts: 1067
- Joined: 23 Aug 2006, 10:15
- Version: FS9
- Location: In between KNTU and KNGU
Re: Air Force Fighter Jet Missing in Alaska
No sign of pilot found near wreckage of Air Force F-22
SURVIVAL HOPE: Air force aviator was trained for subzero conditions.
By CASEY GROVE
casey.grove@adn.com
Published: November 18th, 2010 01:22 PM
Last Modified: November 19th, 2010 12:59 AM
The commander of the Air Force's 3rd Wing was holding out hope Wednesday that the pilot of an F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jet that disappeared on a night training flight Tuesday is still alive.
Col. Jack McMullen said the pilot could have ejected and, if so, was equipped and trained to survive the cold in the region 100 miles north of Anchorage, where searchers believe they located wreckage of the aircraft Wednesday morning.
The plane carries one pilot. The Air Force has not released the pilot's name.
"We're still doing an active search to find the pilot," McMullen said. "Obviously, this is an emotional time for the families as we work through this."
Pararescuemen from the Alaska Air National Guard scoured the crash site Wednesday until being flown out for the night. "There's no sign of the pilot at this point, from what I've been told," guard spokesman Maj. Guy Hayes said.
Search aircraft, however, planned to remain in the area overnight searching for the pilot, according to the Alaska Air National Guard.
Temperatures in the area had dipped to 4 below by Wednesday night, according to the National Weather Service.
The pilot would have been equipped with survival gear and a beacon, but the beacon could have been damaged, McMullen said.
"The big thing they have is survival gear," McMullen said. "He's Arctic-trained to survive in that environment. He's got the gear on. He's got the stuff in the survival kit so that he can hunker himself down and fight the extreme cold."
As McMullen spoke at a brief news conference Wednesday afternoon, searchers were trying to find a way to land a helicopter at the wreckage site, he said.
Few new details were available after the news conference and it was unclear late Wednesday if the helicopter had in fact reached the crash site.
The airplane, which is assigned to Elmendorf's 3rd Wing, disappeared during a flight with another F-22 out of Elmendorf-Richardson Tuesday night.
The pair had been flying for about an hour and 20 minutes, McMullen said, and had separated as part of the training maneuvers. They were preparing to rejoin and head home when the one aircraft disappeared from radar at about 7:40 p.m., he said.
The rejoin is "a fairly benign thing we do every day when we're flying," McMullen said.
The remaining F-22, which also lost contact with the missing fighter jet at about the same time, refueled with an air tanker and continued to search for the missing plane, to no avail, McMullen said. That's when the search by the Alaska Air National Guard began, he said.
McMullen said he assumed the terrain where the plane is thought to have gone down is rugged. Asked if Tuesday night's high winds in the region might have affected the flight, he said it would have been normal for an F-22 to fly in such winds.
"It was a little bit windy, but that's not going to affect the aircraft in the air," McMullen said.
According to the National Weather Service, the highest wind in the area Tuesday night was recorded at about 30 mph at 8 p.m., though the nearest weather station failed to record for several hours overnight. The temperature the next day registered 9 below zero at 6 a.m., the Weather Service said.
Search efforts Wednesday morning focused southeast of Cantwell near the eastern boundary of Denali National Park and Preserve, according to the Alaska Air National Guard, which was coordinating the search effort.
The search, run through the Air Guard's Rescue Coordination Center, involved pararescuemen onboard HH-60 helicopters and an HC-130 four-engine plane, assisted by refueling air tankers.
Searchers returned to base for a rest between 3 and 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Air National Guard said. Search efforts resumed at 8 a.m.
They conducted the search by separating the area into grids they then looked at using a systematic approach, according to Alaska Air National Guard spokeswoman Kalei Rupp. Rupp did not know the size of the search area.
The wreckage that is thought to be the missing F-22 was spotted about 10:15 a.m.
The general airspace the planes were flying is called the Fox 3 Military Operations Area, a square patch of more than 3 million acres between Anchorage and Fairbanks, according to the Air Force. Maps show that the area is bisected by the Denali Highway.
Base public affairs officers could not give a narrower description for the crash site or provide the names of any landmarks near where they think the Raptor went down.
The twin-engine F-22 comes with a price tag of $143 million, according to the Pentagon.
F-22s first arrived at Elmendorf in August 2007 after entering service in the mid-2000s.
The jet is more maneuverable, stealthier and faster than earlier jets and can cruise at more than 1.5 times the speed of sound without using its afterburner, according to the Air Force. Its top speed is confidential.
Congress last year stopped production of the plane, built by Lockheed Martin Corp., by eliminating $1.75 billion that would have added seven F-22s to the Air Force's fleet, according to The Associated Press.
An F-22 crashed in March 2009 near Edwards Air Force Base in California, killing the pilot. The next most recent crash of a Raptor occurred in 2007 at Edwards and was caused by a dual-engine flameout, according to Flightglobal.com, an aviation news website.
http://www.adn.com/2010/11/17/1559051/s ... ndorf.html
SURVIVAL HOPE: Air force aviator was trained for subzero conditions.
By CASEY GROVE
casey.grove@adn.com
Published: November 18th, 2010 01:22 PM
Last Modified: November 19th, 2010 12:59 AM
The commander of the Air Force's 3rd Wing was holding out hope Wednesday that the pilot of an F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jet that disappeared on a night training flight Tuesday is still alive.
Col. Jack McMullen said the pilot could have ejected and, if so, was equipped and trained to survive the cold in the region 100 miles north of Anchorage, where searchers believe they located wreckage of the aircraft Wednesday morning.
The plane carries one pilot. The Air Force has not released the pilot's name.
"We're still doing an active search to find the pilot," McMullen said. "Obviously, this is an emotional time for the families as we work through this."
Pararescuemen from the Alaska Air National Guard scoured the crash site Wednesday until being flown out for the night. "There's no sign of the pilot at this point, from what I've been told," guard spokesman Maj. Guy Hayes said.
Search aircraft, however, planned to remain in the area overnight searching for the pilot, according to the Alaska Air National Guard.
Temperatures in the area had dipped to 4 below by Wednesday night, according to the National Weather Service.
The pilot would have been equipped with survival gear and a beacon, but the beacon could have been damaged, McMullen said.
"The big thing they have is survival gear," McMullen said. "He's Arctic-trained to survive in that environment. He's got the gear on. He's got the stuff in the survival kit so that he can hunker himself down and fight the extreme cold."
As McMullen spoke at a brief news conference Wednesday afternoon, searchers were trying to find a way to land a helicopter at the wreckage site, he said.
Few new details were available after the news conference and it was unclear late Wednesday if the helicopter had in fact reached the crash site.
The airplane, which is assigned to Elmendorf's 3rd Wing, disappeared during a flight with another F-22 out of Elmendorf-Richardson Tuesday night.
The pair had been flying for about an hour and 20 minutes, McMullen said, and had separated as part of the training maneuvers. They were preparing to rejoin and head home when the one aircraft disappeared from radar at about 7:40 p.m., he said.
The rejoin is "a fairly benign thing we do every day when we're flying," McMullen said.
The remaining F-22, which also lost contact with the missing fighter jet at about the same time, refueled with an air tanker and continued to search for the missing plane, to no avail, McMullen said. That's when the search by the Alaska Air National Guard began, he said.
McMullen said he assumed the terrain where the plane is thought to have gone down is rugged. Asked if Tuesday night's high winds in the region might have affected the flight, he said it would have been normal for an F-22 to fly in such winds.
"It was a little bit windy, but that's not going to affect the aircraft in the air," McMullen said.
According to the National Weather Service, the highest wind in the area Tuesday night was recorded at about 30 mph at 8 p.m., though the nearest weather station failed to record for several hours overnight. The temperature the next day registered 9 below zero at 6 a.m., the Weather Service said.
Search efforts Wednesday morning focused southeast of Cantwell near the eastern boundary of Denali National Park and Preserve, according to the Alaska Air National Guard, which was coordinating the search effort.
The search, run through the Air Guard's Rescue Coordination Center, involved pararescuemen onboard HH-60 helicopters and an HC-130 four-engine plane, assisted by refueling air tankers.
Searchers returned to base for a rest between 3 and 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Air National Guard said. Search efforts resumed at 8 a.m.
They conducted the search by separating the area into grids they then looked at using a systematic approach, according to Alaska Air National Guard spokeswoman Kalei Rupp. Rupp did not know the size of the search area.
The wreckage that is thought to be the missing F-22 was spotted about 10:15 a.m.
The general airspace the planes were flying is called the Fox 3 Military Operations Area, a square patch of more than 3 million acres between Anchorage and Fairbanks, according to the Air Force. Maps show that the area is bisected by the Denali Highway.
Base public affairs officers could not give a narrower description for the crash site or provide the names of any landmarks near where they think the Raptor went down.
The twin-engine F-22 comes with a price tag of $143 million, according to the Pentagon.
F-22s first arrived at Elmendorf in August 2007 after entering service in the mid-2000s.
The jet is more maneuverable, stealthier and faster than earlier jets and can cruise at more than 1.5 times the speed of sound without using its afterburner, according to the Air Force. Its top speed is confidential.
Congress last year stopped production of the plane, built by Lockheed Martin Corp., by eliminating $1.75 billion that would have added seven F-22s to the Air Force's fleet, according to The Associated Press.
An F-22 crashed in March 2009 near Edwards Air Force Base in California, killing the pilot. The next most recent crash of a Raptor occurred in 2007 at Edwards and was caused by a dual-engine flameout, according to Flightglobal.com, an aviation news website.
http://www.adn.com/2010/11/17/1559051/s ... ndorf.html
Les
______________________________________________________________________
"Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game; In the deed the glory."
______________________________________________________________________
"Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game; In the deed the glory."
-
james84
Re: Air Force Fighter Jet Missing in Alaska
Unfortunately the pilot didn't survive. RIP
http://www.jber.af.mil//news/story.asp?id=123231774
http://www.jber.af.mil//news/story.asp?id=123231774
Re: Air Force Fighter Jet Missing in Alaska
Dang it. I know it was a long shot but you always hope.....
-Mike G.
Recovering flight sim addict, constant lurker.
Check out my real life RV-8 build here: RV-8 Builder Log
Recovering flight sim addict, constant lurker.
Check out my real life RV-8 build here: RV-8 Builder Log
Re: Air Force Fighter Jet Missing in Alaska
Image from the crash site, there's nothing even recognizable.....
http://www.jber.af.mil/shared/media/pho ... 5E-005.jpg
http://www.jber.af.mil/shared/media/pho ... 5E-005.jpg
-Mike G.
Recovering flight sim addict, constant lurker.
Check out my real life RV-8 build here: RV-8 Builder Log
Recovering flight sim addict, constant lurker.
Check out my real life RV-8 build here: RV-8 Builder Log