The search is on for an F-22 out of Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska that “lost contact with air traffic control at 7:40 p.m. Alaska time [yesterday] while on a routine training mission,” reads an Air Force press release titled, “F-22 aircraft overdue in reporting.”
Pentagon officials just released a statement this afternoon saying:
A search is underway and is being coordinated by officials with the Alaska Air National Guard Rescue Coordination Center. Airmen in HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters and an HC-130 King are combing an area northeast of Cantwell, Alaska, the last known location of the aircraft.
“Right now, our top priority is to try to bring the pilot home safely,” said Col. Jack McMullen, the 3rd Wing commander. “We will continue to search until we find our pilot. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of this missing Airman.”
NBC News reported earlier today that:
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.
Steve Trimble over at Flight Global notes that this is the second F-22 loss in little over a year, and third overall, bringing the total number of jets that will ultimately be fielded to 185, unless more are built.
The F-22 costs $143 million apiece according to the Air Force (although its critics claim the real cost is far higher) and before this latest presumed crash, the Raptor had a Class A mishap rate of six to seven per 100,000 flight hours, according to the folks at Strategy Page.
A Class A mishap is any incident involving an aircraft where over $1 million worth of damage occurs.
It should be noted that reaching this threshhold is fairly easy with the Raptor given its low-observable coatings and other high priced features. In fact, a “minor” collision last year between an F-22 and a Canadian CF-18 parked on the ramp at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida was declared a Class A mishap.
Hope the pilot of the Alaska jet got out alright.
– John Reed
{ 106 comments… read them below or add one }
I pray for the pilots safety and his safe return.
I hope the pilot and the jet is safe
Hoping for the pilot to be alive is one thing, but the jet? It's virtually guaranteed to be lost. There isn't a whole lot of level ground out in those mountains for a pilot to attempt a crash landing in.
Probably flew it to Russia or China. They would pay the pilot anything he wants. Its happened before.
That was my first thought when I read this. The only other possible thing I can think of that would have the same 'symptoms' as what occured is the pilot flew into the mountain, but most pilots worth their salt (and I would expect that to be the case of 22 pilots especially) would know better than that.
Wouldn't the fuel load for a training mission prohibit them from reaching a Russian airbase, or even getting to Russian airspace?
No clue, don't know what the SOP for that is, but if the AF really is flying its planes with a 'four hour reserve' it could very easily make it in Russian airspace
but the prob is tho is we have ships almost every where and in order for the F-22 to refuel it needs a boom to be able to take fuel and i know for sure the Russia or china dont have the stuff to refuel the F-22 but thats what im thinking
It's also possible that if it was thought out well that the Russians or Chinese could use an aerial refueling tanker to boost it's range. That is if Russian tankers can fuel American jets. I'm not sure, but I think they can if they are properly modified.
i dont think they can because it needs a boom to take fuel and i know they dont have it
im a little behind the times i guess. What pilots and planes defected to china or russia? sorry for asking a dumb question.
Well, there was an Army officer in the 60s IIRC that flew a Cessna or something (non-military) to get asylum there. And then there was the time w/ John Trovolta and the B-3… but he didn't really want the plane, just the nukes… Don't think its ever really (publicly) happened from West to East, but it has happened MANY MANY times in reverse (Soviet/Chinese/NK, etc. defecting to the west).
Of course, this is easily explained by the fact that the West had a lot of things going for it during the Cold War. Nowadays China is on the rise, etc. who knows?
What an ignorant thing to say about an American serviceman without a lot more information. These guys put themselves in harm's way and deserve the benefit of the doubt–he might also be lying dead or dying the Alaskan bush. You are no better than Obama when he accused the white cop of discrimination because "its happened before"! Jerk…
Are you for real ?
You aught a be ashamed . Think before you write things on the Internet where millions of eyes can see it, like his/her family friends co-workers…..regardless of it’s possibilities….that persons wife or husband worst nightmare just came true, that’s someones father, someones son…and what gives you the right to pass judgement so quickly, like I said, you should be ashamed .
Hey Stranger!
Unless you have some good reason to make that suggestion–shut your mouth. My guess is that the spendy new toy, built by the lowest bidder, has again confirmed that wisdom.
The guy in the cockpit, and his family, should only have to deal with our prayers.
Go back to sleep, we'll call you when we need ya!
Stranger – you are way too paranoid – when did this other incident of a pilot that defected to Russia apparently happen?
Maybe it was stolen by a Russian pilot, like in Firefox, except backwards.
Xoferif?
Isn't "dropping off the radar" what F-22s are supposed to do?
I assume that on a routine training mission they would have a transponder broadcasting on the channels.
Does the f-22 have an ELT?
We now have 181 of them. One crashed a while back, and now this one either crashed or was given away.
At the end of this year 187 will be produced. One crashed already, and this one. I think well have 185.
Just keep in mind when the F-22 was canceled it cost 127 million a copy for each additional copy. How much is the F-35 going to cost now based on a reduced purchase?
Fighters, even stealth fighters don't just vanish. Hopefully the plane and more importantly the pilot return safely.
This highlights another reason why not enough F-22s were built! Attrition takes it's toll on all aircraft.
One F-22 and pilot were lost back in 2009 due to GLOC but when was a second one lost?
Its unlikely that the plane will return, given that it disappeared at 7:40pm alaska time last night, thats about 12 hrs ago eastern time?
This is the one from 2009: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29881713/ns/us_news-m…
Edward's AFB test pilot was lost in that one.
The first one was from 2004: http://articles.cnn.com/2004-12-22/us/fighter.cra…
The pilot ejected safely in that one.
Hopefully the pilot from this latest incident is found soon.
the tracking devices on stealth aircraft don't activate until the pilot punches out.
If the pilot did fly it to russia i hope the US has a tracking beacon on it that way they can cruise missle the hell out of the plane and stop it from eventually going to NK or China. I hope the pilot is ok, unless he traded his country for some chinese money.
if he did i think he would be the most hated guy on earth just think if NK gets something like that(GOD HELP US)
that plane is gone. traitor? not likely, and if he was do you think the chicoms or russians would let him live? maybe debrief him and he's done.
While I certainly wouldn't begrudge them for killing people who turn on us, I'm not sure I'm understanding why – wouldn't killing everyone who defects to your country amount to punishing people who help you, and encourage people not to do it anymore?
Errr… yeah, they probably would let him live. Thats kinda how defecting works. Besides, having the plane is one thing, you need to know how to fly it too…
If anything, they probably gave him some serious cash and some nice land to live on, thats what we did back during the Cold War anyway.
Yeah but we're talking about ruskis and chinks here, since they're inhuman pinkos it's too much to expect them to let the pilot live I think is what skysoldier is getting at.
Well, the idea isn't so much that Russians and Chinese are upstanding folks, but that they'd be acting against their own best interests by rewarding a valuable gift with death – biting the hand that feeds them, as it were.
You people do realize the plane went missing 90 miles NE of Anchorage? Thats in the boonies right between Wasilla and Fairbanks a few hundred miles from the coast. This plane is somewhere out in the frontier, not in Russia.
I believe you are right. Alaska is a vast wilderness.
Maybe he defected to Canada. Got him a nice igloo up here in the Yukon. This years Dogsled and a lifetime supply or maple syrup is pretty tempting.
Whatever happened to the two birds in flight OP. Back in the day when the USAF didn't take chances they would send up two birds fully armed to watch over the other in case of treason. And, If that was the case the bird was shot down under orders…..I guess times have changed.
You young ans be aware of the weasel in the coop and watch over your birds…Till next time Capt Pete….Out!
Wouldn't you theoretically need 3 in order to safeguard against that? I mean… 2 is all well and good, but if one of them is a traitor, what stops him from just taking a shot at his 'buddy'?
Hope he didn't defect.
What happened to the other "missing planes"? it's probably something similar. Also, what about structural flaws? Didn't the F-22 have some of those?
This sounds like a crash we had back in 1999.
F-15E from Mountain Home on a routine night mission exploded mid-air.
Not enough notice for pilot and WSO to eject. I don't know what the AIB/SIB determined was the cause of the explosion.
I can't believe it. You people are pathetic. It's only been hours and already your calling him a traitor. He could be dead. Maybe you should wait until you have all the facts.
thanks for your clarity on the subject. this discussion is disgusting in light of things.
Its most likely it did crash, but there are some simple facts to the matter: the Air Force knows where the plane was at the time they lost contact w/ it (even if it is a stealth aircraft, the AF most certainly has a way of tracking its position, most likely a transponder used during training flights), there was no distress call, etc. and they have yet to find the plane. Granted, it hasn't been very long, but CSAR is usually pretty good about this kind of thing.
What about alien abductiom???
That's what I think! Tractor beamed by a mothership in orbit, no doubt about it.
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/inde…
Maybe this was behind the recent F-35B suggestions….
Altogether, not a great week for American fighter superiority……
If this was a defection (I think not, but then what do I know?), it would be a disaster.
As for the moment, I can only wish the best outcome for the pilot who is worth far more than a plane…..
Check Russia.
Its exciting to think about but I'm pretty sure *prayers with the pilot and his family* the mountains claimed the bird, not the Chinese. They would be risking open conflict with the United States Military. The Pentagon would shit a brick and would have multiple carrier groups in position demanding its return. China is hugely invested in the United States now…economic interest tops anything in our world…I doubt that China would risk so much for a plane. I'm sure they already have detailed blueprints to every piece of US military equipment aside from whats underground at area 51 anyway.
China pretty much shot down a US reconnaisance plane a few years ago, operating in neutral airspace, forcing it to land in China. The Chinese are rumored to have gotten a lot of good intel from that incident. So, the fact that China has commercial relationships with the US is irrelevant to their desire to steal US technology.
"shot down" Good God… They had a midair collision. The PLAN pilot was killed, the EP-3 barely made it down safe on the closest airfield, which was Chinese.
And btw, China is about 3000 miles from Anchorage, minimum.
And before it landed you can be assured that all sensative equipment and data was unrecoverably delt with by the EP-3 crew prior to landing.
You all should be ashamed of yourselves.
How far from Palin's house was that ? If they could see it from the window, its in Russia.
The F-22 cockpit is garbage. The pilots don't complain because if they do it's back to the old timers for them.
if the f22 is truely garbage then i would complain so i could go back to the old timers.
Read what I said, bozo.
The people on here enthusiastically speculating about a defection forget one thing:
The guy is a fighter pilot flying the F-22 Raptor. What in the world could you possibly give him to make him want to stop being one?
This is a mishap. Hope the pilot is OK.
If the chicoms/russians are anything like the US during the Cold War, then he could get bank out of the deal… much more money than he would make over the course of his life being a pilot, or even in the civilian sector.
I for one would never take such an offer, and I would say that the vast majority of american servicemen/women would say the same, but that doesn't mean there aren't a handful that value money more than their country.
if he was headed for red we would have shot him down and blamed it on the coms
Those of you that would even think that an American pilot would defect should be ashamed to call yourselves Americans. Shut the hell up until the DOD has released the official story to the cause of the jet losing contact.
American Airman, go back through your history. There have been dozens (if not hundreds) of examples of American Airman, Seamen, Soldiers, and Marines becoming turncoats. To think American servicemen above suspicion is naive.
And how many people have defected from your crack pot of a country?
wait and see
Folks: Logic suggests that the most likely scenario is that the aircraft crashed. The ejection seat provides a chance of survival if response time permitted its use and the pilot survived the ordeal of ejection and subsequent landing. The lack of near immediate communication from the pilot is disconcerting, but not totally condemning. Eventually, we will have more information. Until then, we can all, indeed, hope and pray for the best for the pilot who, just like each of us, has concerned family and friends awaiting further news. I urge each of us to guard against trivializing this situation while we await the fate of the pilot who was serving his/her country. Let's at least join together in that. Regards.
The Raptor during training missions carries lumbar lenses so that it can be seen by radar which are not removable by the pilot during flight. For a Raptor to drop off the radar like that instantly during a training mission means I am sad to say that it probably crashed. Pray for the pilot and their safe return.
Hmm, can you tell us anything more about those (assuming that it isn't classified tech)? I've never heard of these or seen them (that I can recall anyway, I have seen F-22's in flight on training missions before).
They are there because you dont want people to get data picking apart your stealth signature of a aircraft from repeated readings over time. The French our "allies" did it to us with the F-117.
- Luneburg Lens –
Spelling counts. Simple version: Think of a corner cube, only it's a sphere, it does the same thing. Radar or light or whatever energy it is tuned to hits it and is bounced straight back from whence it came.
Probably abducted by a UFO.
Someone doesn't know their geography very well. i'm sure the 6 million people that live in the Russian Far East, especially the 400,000 living in kamchatka and the 50,000 living in Chukotka would love to hear that they are no longer part of Russia….
Sadly looking at facts….from the descriptions of the suddenness of its dis appearance from radars and the lack of a mayday and the lack of any rescue beacons/EPURB tells me it was some sort of sudden and catastrophic anomoly that claimed the aircraft and probably the pilot!!! I hope I am wrong and the pilot managed to escape but only God has control of that!!! And I pray for the Lord to watch over, guide and protect him be it His will!!! and to that airman I say "Sempre Fi" and "Godspeed" for a safe return!!!
I hope the pilot makes it out okay…for the rest of you calling him a traitor, get a life.
It’s funny how badly the Russian/Chicom fanboys here are hoping for a defection..
Wow… You all make me sick. We’re not writing scripts to a movie here. Have some respect. Real life is that it crashed just north of Anchorage. There has been no word on the pilot but most fear he is deceased. The word is that it was equipment malfunction. So enough with all the conspiracy theories – there was no abduction, China and Russia are not involved. Get a grip!!! You all watch too many damn movies.
Not everyone feels the same way. i certainly know at least one person that flies that has decided that he really isn't as into it as he thought he was. Granted, he's not going to fly his jet over to russia/china/anywhere else for that matter, but as of right now he's thinking that when his commitment expires in about 5 years he's not going to re-up.
What if another stealth fighter from another country shot em down…I doubt it but just a suggestion. Maybe there are more advanced stealth fighters out there that we don’t know about. I just hope he made or makes it out ok.
like the arkbird in ace combat 5……. im just saying
Temps in the area where he went missing were probably around 20 below last night. Pray he is found safe and sound and was able to survive the harsh climate.
The low for the anchorage area last night was 18degF, so not quite that low, but yeah, pretty cold. Granted, the plane was 90 miles north at altitude, so who knows.
If it is a pilot that defected to Russia, this must be the Kremlin trying to get back at us for the whole incident involving the spy ring capture and their head spy defecting. They probably want revenge after losing such face.
> The search area is concentrated near Cantwell
Google Maps shows mountains rising 4,000 feet above the surrounding land around Cantwell. I suspect this was a flight-into-terrain accident.
the plane was last seen landing on a civilian run base in the antarctics
in the antarctics – or (better) on the moon… ;-(
Here’s the real story: http://mobile.ktuu.com/ktuu/db_34649/contentdetai…
And yes, where it wrecked is 20 below. Stop with the movie crap and start praying they find the pilot. Show respect.
Here's another link: http://www.adn.com/2010/11/17/1559051/search-cont…
Hopefully the pilot is alive, but given the conditions, it seems very unlikely.
but back home he still lives in the same world, family to take care of, bills to pay. so a few extra 10s millions in swiss bank, a plastic surgery, a new ID won't be too bad at all….. not saying he really defected, just for argument's sake….
God dang people are you that f*&king hard on to have a person defect or some shit?
Real life isnt a movie.
God speed. Sounds like he didnt get out in time. God be with his family.
"The Pilot is probably sitting on Heaven's door step shaking his head at all of u that are speculating the worst!!!"
We all know by now that it's 99.9% untrue about the pilot defecting but "…speculating the worst" isn't an ass move.
If everyone was all hunky-Dorey about this and immediately rejected the idea of the pilot defecting, what would happen if (s)he did?
I'm not taking sides just saying anything could have happened at this point.
They found the plane! No sign of the pilot though. My guess is he's probably frozen half-way to death by now. What about the transponder bolted to the seat that should be squawking its position?
no question, the U.S. government knows where it is , due to the very contemparary tracking devices (transponder) they have, and they keep quiet about it, no matter how thrashed it might have gotten in a crash,"or not?" The punks who keep our southern borders open are the same punks who want to and able to want to make a little bit of side money if you know what i mean.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/11/17/air-force-fi…
Found the wreckage, no sign of pilot. I bet the pilot took off and has built him a shelter till rescue arrives.
F22' on training missions have a small 'pod' called a Lunesberg Lens installed, behind the weapons bays, usually seen to the left of the aircraft. This 'device' allows the F22 to be tracked using radar in the same manner as say an F15 would be, since this 'device' reflects radar energy back to its source.
As some have already stated, it’s also used to prevent foreign states from testing their equipment and gaining Intel and putting numbers on the aircrafts exact RCS (all in a benign environment).
I wonder if the pilot can drop the pod inflight
To everyone reading me, Please Pray! and Help the Airmans family indure.
to American Airman, Our you serious? Wait for the official DOD story. I'm still trying to digest the FACTS that a 35KM long Contrail left the Pacific Ocean just off our Pacific Missle Test Base, Climbed 65,000Ft in less than 20 seconds, was witnessed by thousands of people, headed out Northwest(toward Alaska) and the best that DOD can officially say was that it was a optical illusion, that people mis-interpreted, caused by a regularly schedule aircraft flight, that nobody at DOD, FAA and NORAD knows anything about. I personally hope the pilot is found in good shape and there is a good reason for a aircraft failure. But most official stories from the DOD are on the shelf with Dr. Seus and JRR Tolkien in the fantascy section.
Robert, you can remove the tinfoil hat now, the aliens that landed at Roswell have all left.
The ELT (Electronic Locator Transmitter) should have revealed exact position coordinates. Did it not work? Or did the F-22 not go down?
Sane or Crazy? Who thinks that the cold war ever ended. Just speculating of course, yet, is the ex Soviet Union capable of deploying an energy beam weapon of sorts? I know it sounds like science fiction in light of the fact that aircraft, even highly evolved aircraft have defects in systems and or workmanship that may account for the "sudden loss of contact". I should know as I have first hand experience regarding aircraft construction on the L-1011 Tri Star and the TR-1/U-2. There were people there far nuttier than me working in a field they did not belong in. The TR-1 breaker panels would ark and spark in flight test, making it impossible for the Air-Force to sign off on. On the other hand, maybe this was a sanctioned swap for the "Merchant of Death". We get him, they get (or take out) a F-22. Will we ever know?!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101117/ts_alt_afp/u… the 22 was found, lets hope the pilot is ok.
Yea its a stealth fighter but we need to understand that this stuff happens because something went wrong. It could be anything that went wrong but it will get fixed.
it could of been Aliens shooting down the plane to rumor is that it was carrying a B83 Nuclear missile
A stealth fighter went off the radar? WHAT A SURPRISE!
But seriously, Pray for the pilot and his safe return home.
The plane is in China and the wreckage is that of an F18. Cmmmon people, do you really think this Jet just up and crashed. Yeah, right, like the hard drive just vanished at Las Alomos and the super classified spy plane just happened to be hit by a chinese jet forcing it to land in China.
Its your leaders paying dividends to China for putting them in power.