Posted on 09/13/2009 9:37:33 AM PDT by Jet Jaguar
An F-16 from the IDFAF crashed in the Southern hills near Hebron. The pilot who was killed was the son of the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia accident in 2003.
he pilot Lt. Assaf Ramon, 20, was on his 47th training flight since completing his pilot training in June 2009. He was flying an unarmed training mission when the accident happened.
IAF commander Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan and the head of the IDF Manpower Division Avi Zamir personally delivered the sad news to his mother, Rona Ramon's at there home.
The news of the crash has been taken badly within the Nations defence forces, especially within the airforce who regarded Ilan Ramon as a legend. Ramon senior was a colonel in the airforce and was the first Israeli in space.
Assaf enlisted in the airforce in 2006 to follow in his father footsteps soon after the Columbia tragedy. He graduated in June of this year as the classes valedictorian.
The cause of the accident was under investigation and is complicated by the large crash scene. Debris is reported to be spread over a large area of land near the settlement of Pinei Hever.
An eye witness account have suggested that Assaf may have tried to eject.
F-16 Ping.
Sad — the pilot and his father both died while trying to touch the face of God.
Prayers for the family.
More importantly, he also led the 1981 Israeli squadron which destroyed the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak.
Prayers for the family.
He didn’t lead the squadron, he was the least experienced pilot on the mission, the rookie flying “tail-end charlie.”
Thanks for the correction. I was mistaken, and it’s good to know the facts. They still should’ve noted his participation in that mission in their account of him.
Very sad, his father also was on the mission that took out the Iraq reactor.
I am certain his son would have served the cause of civilization equally well.
Six years after his father Ilan Ramon died in the fatal Columbia space shuttle mission, Capt. Assaf Ramon was killed on Sunday when the Israeli Air Force F-16 fighter jet he was piloting crashed into the southern Hebron Hills.
The IDF Spokesperson’s Office announced that Ramon would be posthumously awarded the rank of Captain.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1251804559879
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