Red October was the first thing that came to mind when the aircraft simply had its transponder go off without any warning-and no indication of a fireball or explosion.
I recall watching videos of test pilots in college. What I was told by the F4 pilot who was our ROTC commander was that when a pilot is riding an aircraft down like that, they never stop talking—they are trying to solve the problem right into the ground.
While this was not a test pilot situation, I always keep this in the back of my mind when something like this happens.
If you were a young Japanese pilot, running one of the hottest commodities in the air would the allure of a ton of money, hot women, and a life as a hero in China cause you to want to turn off the transponder and make a run for the hills?
How much do WE pay for the most recent Migs?
It is something to consider. I am pretty confident OUR pilots would not choose to go to China. But life here is pretty good.
The first thing I did when hearing about this was pull up a world map and see how far it was to NK, Russia or China.
625 miles in an F-35 @ 1200kts is lasts just a little longer than a union smoke break.