it says they are in route to retrieve the pilot, hopefully that indicates that the pilot was able to eject safely...

The f-16 would not fly across the Pacific Ocean by itself. Most likely had other F-16's and a tanker with it. They would have seen it go down and stayed in orbit above the down aircraft until rescued.

flnobody,

There is no reason the F-16 could not have been on a solo flight across the Pacific. The aircraft has an extended range of up to 2,275 nm. Tankers would rendezvous en-route to extend that range. Any accompanying planes would be unable to remain on station until rescuers arrived, due to fuel consumption.

Which is it? Rescue implies vertical and retrieve is more sideways.

F-16s rarely fly by themselves and since this one went down off the coast of Japan shortly after takeoff, all the aircraft would be full of fuel. It's likely someone could stay on-station long enough for more assets to get there.

sing

There is no reason the F-16 could not have been on a solo flight across the Pacific.

Other than it has no long-range communications. UHF and VHF has only around 300-mile range (depending on altitude).

Sing

I have to make a correction to my above post. About a year ago. They started to install a new satellite communication in the f-16's. How many of the f-16's have been modified yet? I don't know.

Come on, MSNBC, UPDATE this story. Lots of other news outlets have already reported that the pilot was rescued safely.

traci

Thanks for letting us know he/she was rescued. That's great news.

Did anyone commenting about the range of the plane look up where Aomori is?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aomori,_Aomori

(Spoiler alert: The base is in Japan which would explain the crash location)

Flying a long distance over water on a single engine is risky.

The F-35's single engine should be a concern.

Glad to hear the pilot is OK.

The long distance run from Japan would probably run along the Aleutian chain. You would have Shemya, Adak. Dutch Harbor, Kodiak, Anchorage, Juneau, Sitka , Ketchican, on into Seattle as dumping spots along the way. They wouldn't just cut accross the Gulf of Alaska.

Good to hear that the pilot was rescued and not recovered.

When any flight of fighters are going across the pond, they are 'dragged' by a refueling tanker. The 909th Air Refueling Squadron out of Kadena AB pull that mission all the time. I agree with onermailliw, Unless they were pushing to San Diego or LA, they would most likely follow the Aleutian Chain...

F-16s only have two motors; one for pushing them forward and when that fails, one for pushing the pilot out of the cockpit...Still a nice air frame but a severe limitation when the one powerplant that you rely upon to get you from point A to point B fails...

Must be an extremely SLOW DAY @ Reuters.

It was reported hours ago that the pilot (only person onboard) was picked up by a Japanese ship shortlty after landing in the water.

They'd go up the chain the alaska. Its a main airway. Even the airliners take this path for japan. I was stationed at misawa. I know the routes well.

Don't ever buy a used F-16.

Wow your a tool

Biff, I do not believe we are there to defend Japan as much as we pay for our bases to have a strategic presence in the Asia area. Yes, they do get a benefit of security from being attacked by another nation, but reality is we need to be close to the more troubling spots like North Korea and China. Japan provides that location for us. We pay every nation on earth for base rental no matter what country we station our military in.

Biff, in point of fact the Japanese have the sixth largest defense budget in the world and their military is quite capable, however by law it is operated as part of their police force and is thus not allowed to do some things that other national militaries do.

However, as Okeeboy pointed out, the US is no more in Japan to defend Japan than the US is in Cuba to defend Cuba.

Because we are not spending billions, Japan is paying the US for its military services.

@biff, we're not defending japan. Its a forward operating base. So if we were say bombed by russia or someone in the area, we would have forces there ready to respond. That's why we have a presence in lots of countries.

Biff-You might want to read up on WW II to see why the US is in Japan.

The F-16 is 1980's technology. I am suprised they are still flying as McDill in Tampa is lined with only F-18's. The F-22's choke out the pilots with lack of oxygen so there is another re-work that will cost a few billion to the ones made......

It was just announced that the gravity suit was not restricting and may have been the reason pilots were passing out briefly.

dave

we been having alot of crashes lately maybe cut to military budget is taking its toll

I doubt that. Since they haven't taken effect yet (if they ever will).

seven

The F-16 is 1980's technology. I am suprised they are still flying as McDill in Tampa is lined with only F-18's

f-16's and f-18's are the same age. In fact, the f-16 and the then yf-17 (now f-18) had a fly off competition to see which aircraft the AF would buy. The f-16 won.

P.S. That was back in the mid 70's, and there are no f-18's assigned to MacDill AFB.

yank

It was just announced that the gravity suit was not restricting and may have been the reason pilots were passing out briefly.

The g-suit does not cause hypoxia. It will cause a blackout during high G maneuvers.

That must be what a Wing Commander was saying but he was convinced it was the g-suit.

Lockheed Martin cannot afford the oxygen problem to be their fault. I's not just the F-22s, the F-35 uses the same system and this is why only instructor pilots can fly it. The pilots who have graduated F-35 simulator training still can't fly the real thing.

Ed I stand corrected again. He was talking about the F-35. What can you expect from a Army grunt?

Misawas F-16s are not 1970s technology. Those are F-16CJ models (Block 50 and 52 airframes) and are outfitted for SEAD missions. They are approximately 20-25 years old...They were flying them when I was down at Kadena AB and would come down to play during Exercise TEAM SPIRIT in Korea...

flnobody will attest that Air Force air frames go through rigorous amounts of maintenance after so many hours and even go back to depot level maintenance after reaching certain milestones in flight hours.

Right now they are pulling the maintenance logs for that airframe and they are questioning the maintenance crew chiefs who serviced that airframe...

[O.0]

They were flying them when I was down at Kadena AB and would come down to play during Exercise TEAM SPIRIT in Korea...

AH, I remember those days well. It was like a vacation for us( at Kadena). I was at Kunsan AB, Korea. I was there to open Kunsan for the f-16's (81/82).

We got them at misawa a couple years later. We used to only have navy p3s and a jasdf squadron.

sherra

There's a reason F-16s are sometimes referred to as "lawn darts."

I haven't heard that for many years. LOLOL ®¿®

I thought that was the F-104. Oops, aging myself again..

j457

Yes you are "OLD"! But I remember them (f-104) from Luke AFB. Yes they did call the 104 a lawn dart. They called just about all-single engine jets a lawn dart. Except for maybe the f-105. It had it's own good nick name "THUD".

Wow, f-104s and f-105s. I built models of both when I was a kid. I ended up a recip mechanic/crew chief and worked on "connies" in California and "goons" in Nam. I remember f-105's doing after burner take offs at McClellan. The ground vibrated. But the one take off I remember the most was a Canadian Air Force vulcan that paid us a visit. You had to see it to believe it. Very impressive. I guess I'm old too.

At Ramstein we used to hack on each other continuously. The Phantom (F4) boys would give us crap about our "lawn darts" and we would give it to them right back. "You may have two engines but we have a reclined seat" "We may have one engine but you have two smoke generators" "My single can beat your double" "At least a lawn dart can hit a target when the engine quits and not fall apart before getting there" "At least our wings ain't crooked" "I thought Phantom meant invisible, but we can see you before we hear you"

All in fun of course. We all take pride in our ride and in our service. And we respect each other no matter what bird you're assigned because each one has their issues.

brian

This time of year and if he wasn't injured and could have gotten into his life raft. He should be ok for several days without problems.

I wonder if it was time for Happy Hour.

Ron- I kind of agree with that notion to pull all the boys back home. When another country needs a cop, make the checks payable to the US Treasury. We have been the worlds police for far too long. Let someone else pick up the tab.

Disreguard this post i didnt read other comments before I had posted it.

bretton

In the article, it says that:

"The aircraft was en-route to North America when the incident occurred. The cause of the incident is unknown at this time."

It does not say he was the only aircraft. Most likely he wasn't.

The navy is paying $36 dollars a gallon for biofuel. Just sent a tanker with 900,000 gallons to supply war games in the pacific. They were paying a little over $3 a gallon for diesel. Somebody is getting hosed. Bought any corn lately? This is off topic but didn't seem to make the news much.

In all actuality Klodiko thats not completely true.It is related in the fact you were mentioning fuel, and although I didn't mention fuel that is a way it could be considered related in the simple fact that, why was there no fuel tanker near the F-16 also.

Well Patrick if that's the case I say repenting is pretty well pointless, but getting into this conversation could be hours and ours of talking considering some of my views and the thoughts I have along with some of the research i've done myself.

Well, I was making fun of nutjobs who think that dumb conspiracy theories and "end-times" prophesies are true. But, I'm sure your meticulous research of websites written by paranoid schizophrenics has led you to believe all kinds of really deep truths*.

*Insane bullcrap

Yeah, but they're not. It's more "logical" that HAARP is used to control earthquakes and the weather than it is to believe that it's just an atmospheric monitoring facility?

It's more "logical" to believe that there is a One World Government planning to make a huge laser beam a picture of the Antichrist into the sky to fulfill some "biblical prophesy"?

No. You believe stupid bullcrap, because it makes your boring, pointless life seem important. There are no UFOs, no "Project Blue Beam", there was no 9/11 conspiracy, and there sure as hell will never be a one world government/religion/currency. The actual facts of physics, sociology, and history refute all of those retarded conspiracy theories.

But you keep listening to Art Bell and reading websites that look like they were made in the early 1990s. That's what passes as "research" for people with middle-school educations. By which, of course, I mean Republicans.

Patrick I thought you were on target with your anti-conspiracy theory, theory until the end. Republicans? Funny when I sigh my name at work it ends with M.S., M.A., Ph.D. and yes I'm a Republican so I guess that's another conspiracy laid to rest. How about the theory that libs are all welfare collecting moonbats? Any validity?

@Patrick...HAARP by it's own definition (web page) is not for "monitoring the atmosphere". You might want to read about it before you claim to know about it.

As for one world government...well you can wait till the end of the week can't ya? The world has always had people (or a man/woman) who have always wanted to "rule everyone". Conquer the world as it is. So the idea of some sort of cabal that wants to do exactly that isn't really far fetched when one looks at basic history of mankind.

Call it stupid bullcrap if you like. History is history, and it does repeat itself.

Is that Canadian logic?