“Would you think it unreasonable if I ordered you to fly your aircraft into the ground in order to destroy a vehicle carrying a Taliban or al-Qaeda commander?”
A stupid statement.
One would not necessarily have to die to disable an airliner with an unarmed fighter. That’s why they give them ejection seats. One could severely cripple an airliner without suffering catastrophic damage, then eject. Not risk-free, but not certain death either.
TC
Good guys — especially well-trained good guys — are worth more than bad guys.
When I was a radar weapons controller in the AF many years ago this was addressed and pilots in Air Defense Command were briefed and knew how to do the maneuver. It was called a Slide-By and it was to be performed against waves of Soviet bombers carrying nuclear weapons against the U.S. The technique was to occur after the expenditure of all defensive weapons and involved flying up parallel and in front of the bombers wing. Then you decelerated and pulled up into the forward edge of the bomber’s wing. Obviously it was never practiced!
So, what would Jack Bauer do?
How about making sure they have enough ammo to carry out their mission?