2 f-15's down after collision

[Craig.]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080220/ts_ ... _midair_dc

[DONTREADMYUSERNAME]

Uh-oh, another F-15 incident, seems to be alot of them recently....

I hope they find that missing pilot.

[expat]

Being in the same cube of air seems to be a bit of a problem for f15's.

Matt

[Chris_F]

The news here reported that one of the pilots, a Navy pilot, died.  I'm confused, a Navy pilot flying an F-15?

[expat]

The news here reported that one of the pilots, a Navy pilot, died.  I'm confused, a Navy pilot flying an F-15?

Exchange pilot?

Matt

[C]

The news here reported that one of the pilots, a Navy pilot, died.  I'm confused, a Navy pilot flying an F-15?

Exchange pilot?

Matt

I expect so - quite common. You'd be quite surprised at whose flying your F-15s - Brits certainly (and the F22, B2 and just about every other USAF type), and probably Germans, Dutch, Canadians...

[Chris_F]

I can see the purpose of Navy and foreign pilots flying F22s, from what I understand the setup is similar to the F35, which lots of folks are buying.  But the F15?  I don't get that one.  Perhaps as a testbed or training platform for a system that's going to be shared with the Navy?

[C]

I can see the purpose of Navy and foreign pilots flying F22s, from what I understand the setup is similar to the F35, which lots of folks are buying.  But the F15?  I don't get that one.  Perhaps as a testbed or training platform for a system that's going to be shared with the Navy?

Nope. Just a chance to do something different. It all helps cross pollinate ideas, and strengthen the bond between brother NATO services. It's also quite a nice perk being able to serve with another force (often abroad), and often quite an honour to be selected for such a tour of duty. They even used to do it with training courses to.

Just in the same way that the USAF and USN send students to the Empire Test Pilots School in the UK, and the RAF and Royal Navy send students to USNTPS  and the USAFTPS and EPNER in France. One of the more interesting USAF posts in the RAF is as pilot/surgeon with the RAF Centre of Aviation Medicine.

[Chris_F]

Well, that is pretty cool.  Didn't know they did that.

[Hagar]

I found an interesting article on exchange pilots here --> http://newsblaze.com/story/20060808125332tsop.nb/topstory.html

[expat]

I found an interesting article on exchange pilots here --> http://newsblaze.com/story/20060808125332tsop.nb/topstory.html

I love this quote:

"The RAF has roughly 49,000 personnel, which is about one-seventh of the U.S. Air Force's active-duty strength," he said. "This makes the RAF a more flexible and adaptable outfit, as we have to try and do the same job with less resources. However, we cannot start to match the firepower of the U.S. Air Force."

Matt

[C]

Probably one of the most well known of the "recent" exchangees was a certain Col Rick Husband USAF, commander of the shuttle Columbia on it's fatal flight. He served at Boscombe Down in the mid 90s, being project pilot on the Tornado GR and Tucano IIRC - a little more can be read here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Douglas_Husband

[expat]

Probably one of the most well known of the "recent" exchangees was a certain Col Rick Husband USAF, commander of the shuttle Columbia on it's fatal flight. He served at Boscombe Down in the mid 90s, being project pilot on the Tornado GR and Tucano IIRC - a little more can be read here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Douglas_Husband

He would have been an interesting dinner guest........shame it ended that way it did.

Matt