Posted on 11/17/2010 8:59:29 AM PST by AnnaZ
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Search and rescue teams are looking for a U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor and its pilot that went missing during a flight over Alaska late Tuesday, military officials told NBC News.
The officials said the advanced stealth fighter jet was about 90 miles northeast of Elmendorf Air Force Base when it "dropped off the radar."
There was no mayday or any other communication from the pilot that would have indicated the plane was in trouble, the officials told NBC News. There have been no distress calls from the pilot since the plane went missing.
U.S. military helicopters and at least one C-130 have so far failed to turn up any sign of the missing fighter jet, according to NBC News.
Base spokeswoman Corinna Jones told The Associated Press Tuesday night that the pilot was the only person in the craft, which was on a training mission. Air traffic control lost contact with the jet at 7:40 p.m. Alaska time, she added.
Jones declined to identify the pilot, but noted the aircraft is assigned to Elmendorf's 3rd Wing.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
That’s a pretty cynical assumption to make about our Air Force pilots.
I think I’ll wait to hear if the pilot survived, and is hopefully rescued, before I start making jokes or accusations of treason.
bump
The planes have transponders that make them show up very well during training operations.
Directed energy weapon?
Sun is now ‘up’ (0915) and just heard a C-130 launch.
It would seem the USAF is still looking.
I hope the pilot got out in time....
They are not invisible to radar, just hard to see.
Even if he had 1000 miles worth of fuel aboard, he could not have left North American controlled airspace.
From a publically available fact sheet:
Fuel Capacity: Internal: 18,000 pounds (8,200 kilograms); with 2 external wing fuel tanks: 26,000 pounds (11,900 kilograms)
Payload: Same as armament air-to-air or air-to-ground loadouts; with or without 2 external wing fuel tanks.
Speed: Mach 2 class with supercruise capability
Range: More than 1,850 miles ferry range with 2 external wing fuel tanks (1,600 nautical miles)
Notice that the ferry range includes external tanks in order to get 1850 miles out. On internal fuel, he *MIGHT* get 1200 miles.
Look at a map and tell me where there is a land-based airport in unfriendly territory the plane could get to with ferry tanks, which I sincerely doubt would be mounted on a training flight.
The Russians and the Chinese don’t have an in-service carrier capable of catching this bird.
Unfortunately, the odds are that this brave man is dead and the bird is broken beyond repair.
Cloud full of rocks.
I'm also well aware of the "stealth is invisible to RADAR" kool aid that the Air Force has been peddling to the gullible masses for the past three decades.
What was a Raptor doing on radar? Hate stories like this.
1. We’ve developed radar that tracks stealth tech.
2. We lost the plane’s transponder blip of the radar screen
3. We lost radio comms with the plane.
Some of the above are true. Not all of the above should be published in a news story.
Job of the journalist - Which of these are true?
look up Craig David Button, stuff happens
ATC radar works off transponders in the aircraft. The aircraft has to deliberately "want" to be seen.
It would be very odd indeed if wreckage is found but is so “vaporized” no clues will be found as to why.
I have a feeling we will never know the truth here, no matter who says what, just like a missile/contrail thread.
The last incident we had up here was a C-17 that crashed on takeoff, the pilot was attempting a maneuver for the upcoming Air Show, and some thing went wrong.
Usually I see two pairs of jets at a time, you hear them all the time up here, you get the lead aircraft and his wingman, then you get another pair a couple miles behind them, its kinda unusual to hear of just a solo jet up and about.
I am seeing a black hole newswise on this, my curiosity has me wondering why.
Could this possibly even at the most extreme possibility be something more than a simple diaspearance?
“That’s a pretty cynical assumption to make about our Air Force pilots.”
You might want to check my own Post 23 on this thread before being offended.
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