Fighter pilot missing in Virginia

This is near where my family had a cabin where I was young. Hope they find him, but s this typical when a pilot ejects in a remote location? He doesn't have a PLB or anything?
 
Yeah I don't have a good feeling about this. The canopy is big and colorful and the pilot would have had a survival radio. Also, no one goes anywhere without a cell phone in their pocket, he could have found some signal by now.
 
They've been at the wreckage site soon after the crash. I'd think if his seat & body(even pulverized) was there they would know that. It's possible it is cordoned off and they are doing the next of kin notification.

One article did say the brief distress call came when he was flying above 30,000', no low level ops. If he ejected up high he could be a good ways away from the crash site, even from 10-15k'.

Yes, he should at least have an ELT going off as the seat left the plane. The more time that goes by, the odds become lower.
 
Direct C51 said:
Yeah I don't have a good feeling about this. The canopy is big and colorful and the pilot would have had a survival radio. Also, no one goes anywhere without a cell phone in their pocket, he could have found some signal by now.
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I agree. I sense it should't take this long if he was conscious.
 
sourdough44 said:
They've been at the wreckage site soon after the crash. I'd think if his seat & body(even pulverized) was there they would know that. It's possible it is cordoned off and they are doing the next of kin notification.

One article did say the brief distress call came when he was flying above 30,000', no low level ops. If he ejected up high he could be a good ways away from the crash site, even from 10-15k'.

Yes, he should at least have an ELT going off as the seat left the plane. The more time that goes by, the odds become lower.
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There is some lonely slow going swampland around those parts.
 
Henning said:
There is some lonely slow going swampland around those parts.
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It's mountains. Not swamp. But a lot of desolate areas. I grew up going there almost every weekend and went to a 6 week summer camp in nearby Goshen.
 
With no radio and possibly no survival vest,if the ejection was successfull,he could be miles away trying to self extricate. Hopefully they are not sifting the sash looking for DNA.
 
I am not the most well versed in AF regulations, but I believe a radio and survival vest are required for pilots on ALL flights, even just ferry flights.
 
There were a couple of eyewitness reports of a parachute...for what that's worth. First, one must trust the eyewitness and, second, the media to accurately report. Not a good combination.
 
WESTFIELD, Mass. (AP) — The pilot of an F-15 jet that crashed in remote Virginia mountains was killed, military officials said Thursday.

:(

RIP
 
I saw two UH-60's fly over Wed heading that direction and heard several fast movers. I am 168 nm west of crash site. Sorry to hear he did not make it.
 
It was flying to New Orleans for a radar system upgrade and there were no missiles on board.
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Fighters crash a lot when they are training, it's part of the game.

It's very strange that an F-15 would crash on a ferry flight without the pilot ejecting.
 
JimNtexas said:
Fighters crash a lot when they are training, it's part of the game.

It's very strange that an F-15 would crash on a ferry flight without the pilot ejecting.
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That is interesting isn't it. What is the failure rate of the ejection seat?
 
nddons said:
I suppose it could also be some sort of incapacitation, such as lack of oxygen, that could have kept him from ejecting.
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There could also be that he was a 'disassociate' reaction type in an emergency and watched the ride down like a movie.:dunno: We'll likely never know.
 
My understanding is that ejecting at an altitude less than 10,000 ft AGL is full of problems.
 
oilburner said:
My understanding is that ejecting at an altitude less than 10,000 ft AGL is full of problems.
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That may be, but there's been more than a few carrier pilots that have punched out at 50' MSL and survived, few notable airshow performances that went south also punched out at deck level to survive, so it's definitely going to provide a better option than riding in the F-15.
 
My wife went to high school with the pilot. No details on the incident, but she did say that he had about 15 years of experience in the -15.
 
syvesaby.jpg
 
nddons said:
I suppose it could also be some sort of incapacitation, such as lack of oxygen, that could have kept him from ejecting.
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Cabin pressurization and oxygen system issues have been killing fighter pilots for a while. IDK what the outcome of the F-22 oxygen thing was, but it's definitely not a problem limited to one airframe. As the airplanes get older the problems get worse.
 
nddons said:
Can you explain what that is? I'm not following.
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What I've fund that in dealing with a life threatening emergency, looking at death within seconds, there are two types of people in how they react. There are the 'Time Warp' people, everything is very calm, you think about everything going on and evaluate to do what you need to do. No stress, no fear, no panic, just do what you gotta do. Thought goes through your mind about 15 times faster than normal (I actually managed to measure it roughly by the tracks I made in the crop and figuring the distance to stop vs. going in at 115kts).

The other type are dissassociative. It's like they are watching the events unfold in a movie. Again, very calm (as reported to me, I react the other way), no fear or panic just watching to see what happens next. You can see this play out in the AF-447 transcript where the PF in the right seat who has been in this condition for over 2 minutes now (normally this stuff only lasts a few seconds) finally pops out of it and says, "This is really happening isn't it." At this point is when his hand shakes, the wind drops and the guy in the left seat recovers the falling leaf stall (when he could have still recovered the airplane had he put the nose down).

Either way, death is a pretty easy to take event.
 
Henning said:
What I've fund that in dealing with a life threatening emergency, looking at death within seconds, there are two types of people in how they react. There are the 'Time Warp' people, everything is very calm, you think about everything going on and evaluate to do what you need to do. No stress, no fear, no panic, just do what you gotta do. Thought goes through your mind about 15 times faster than normal (I actually managed to measure it roughly by the tracks I made in the crop and figuring the distance to stop vs. going in at 115kts).



The other type are dissassociative. It's like they are watching the events unfold in a movie. Again, very calm (as reported to me, I react the other way), no fear or panic just watching to see what happens next. You can see this play out in the AF-447 transcript where the PF in the right seat who has been in this condition for over 2 minutes now (normally this stuff only lasts a few seconds) finally pops out of it and says, "This is really happening isn't it." At this point is when his hand shakes, the wind drops and the guy in the left seat recovers the falling leaf stall (when he could have still recovered the airplane had he put the nose down).



Either way, death is a pretty easy to take event.
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This has interested me for years (since I discovered my "Time Warp" tendencies). I remember reading an article a few years ago (that of course I can't find now) that natural resting heart rate can be a predictor of which type of reaction you'll have in a stressful situation (with a lower natural resting heart rate predicting your "Time Warp" reaction). Because of that there was supposedly some preference given to individuals with a naturally lower heart rate in special forces recruiting. (If anyone has a link to this article, I'd really appreciate it.)

I also remember a study where the researchers claimed to refute the idea by testing people during a free fall drop. Except, my issue with the study was that they seemed to miss the "fear" part of the equation. If you tell me I'm taking part in a study and put me in free fall... I'm unlikely to fear for my life and may not kick in all available resources to try to solve the issue. (Here's info on that study: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/n...03/time-doesnt-actually-slow-down-in-a-crisis)
 
mjburian said:
This has interested me for years (since I discovered my "Time Warp" tendencies). I remember reading an article a few years ago (that of course I can't find now) that natural resting heart rate can be a predictor of which type of reaction you'll have in a stressful situation (with a lower natural resting heart rate predicting your "Time Warp" reaction). Because of that there was supposedly some preference given to individuals with a naturally lower heart rate in special forces recruiting. (If anyone has a link to this article, I'd really appreciate it.)

I also remember a study where the researchers claimed to refute the idea by testing people during a free fall drop. Except, my issue with the study was that they seemed to miss the "fear" part of the equation. If you tell me I'm taking part in a study and put me in free fall... I'm unlikely to fear for my life and may not kick in all available resources to try to solve the issue. (Here's info on that study: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/n...03/time-doesnt-actually-slow-down-in-a-crisis)
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Yeah, I noticed it way back as a kid crashing things, when I put the Ag Cat in, I finally had a chance to get a real measurement. I figured it took 1.3seconds from the time the gear caught the crop at 115kts to where it stopped upside down. When I looked back at all the thought processes I went through, "full forward, still sinking, chop all power, keep the tail down, wings level and in a straight line." Then watched a slo mo of vaulting over the nose, and there I hung. I figure in 'normal time' that's about 15 seconds worth.

Free fall had no effect on me except having to overcome years of trampoline experience, now, if one would modify that with a primary canopy failure at 1500', I bet that would trigger.
 
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Henning said:
There could also be that he was a 'disassociate' reaction type in an emergency and watched the ride down like a movie.:dunno: We'll likely never know.
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In my experience, the military is pretty good at weeding out those types of people long before they reach 2000 hrs in a tactical jet.
 
Fearless Tower said:
In my experience, the military is pretty good at weeding out those types of people long before they reach 2000 hrs in a tactical jet.
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No doubt, and they are better prepared, but there are always some who will slip through, combat recordings are the tell, most guys are smooth as silk, some don't reply.
 
Henning said:
No doubt, and they are better prepared, but there are always some who will slip through, combat recordings are the tell, most guys are smooth as silk, some don't reply.
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Moose has been there, done that. He's a graduate of the USAF weapons school and was an excellent pilot and instructor. I HIGHLY doubt he froze up.

Interesting discussion, I just don't think it's part of this one. We may never know. RIP Moose!
 
oilburner said:
My understanding is that ejecting at an altitude less than 10,000 ft AGL is full of problems.
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10k' was only a problem for old seats.

Ours in the Eagle is 0/0: 0 knots, 0 ft AGL requirement. We typically use 6k uncontrolled and 2k in a controlled situation for minimum ejection altitude. Although those are crazy conservative numbers.
 
Direct C51 said:
I am not the most well versed in AF regulations, but I believe a radio and survival vest are required for pilots on ALL flights, even just ferry flights.
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We always have a radio in the seat. Survival vests are not required.
 
EvilEagle said:
Moose has been there, done that. He's a graduate of the USAF weapons school and was an excellent pilot and instructor. I HIGHLY doubt he froze up.

Interesting discussion, I just don't think it's part of this one. We may never know. RIP Moose!
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Not saying he did, just it's one of the potentials out there even at military level.
 
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