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Mystery US aircraft crashes in Nevada desert


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It certainly does sound like a black project. I wonder which one?

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5 minutes ago, Obviousman said:

It certainly does sound like a black project. I wonder which one?

Well if it's a 'vanta' black project we won't have much chance of seeing it. :D

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Certainly could be; there is evidence to say the USAF have been conducting tests with an Su-27 in that region.

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Certainly could be; there is evidence to say the USAF have been conducting tests with an Su-27 in that region.

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We seem to be more worried about the aircraft than the man that died. A life is way more important.

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15 minutes ago, paperdyer said:

We seem to be more worried about the aircraft than the man that died. A life is way more important.

There is nothing we can do about the pilot or much else to say.  I am sure most feel bad for him and his family and he was certainly a very accomplished man but writing a eulogy about a stranger is kind of useless so what should we say?  He knew the risks and we all accept them when we put on a military flight suit and climb into a tactical aircraft cockpit and I have certainly lost my share of friends to mishaps but it never stopped me from flying, it is part of the job.

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Test Pilots take their lives in their own hands every time they go up. I regret hearing that such an esteemed pilot has passed in such a way. As for the aircraft, I would readily believe that he was flying some type of 5th Generation fighter. Russia, China, India and others have developed fighters along the same line as our F-22 and F-35 tech. Considering he was on the F-35 program, it would make sense he could be testing one of the F-35's counterparts from another country.

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1 hour ago, Prif_the_Pirate said:

Considering he was on the F-35 program, it would make sense he could be testing one of the F-35's counterparts from another country.

Yeah, because these counterpart A/Cs are available on EBay&Amazon. Dozens of them and in different colors.

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4 minutes ago, toast said:

Yeah, because these counterpart A/Cs are available on EBay&Amazon. Dozens of them and in different colors.

How did we get the SU 29s in the first place? On that note, why does China's 5th Gen fighter look just like ours? People be stealin!!!

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21 hours ago, Maureen_jacobs said:

Um... where did that proposal come from ? 

As for the Su-29... that is a propellor-driven training and aerobatics plane. You probably COULD buy one on Ebay. 

300px-Sukhoi_Su-29.jpg

Edited by RoofGardener
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17 minutes ago, Prif_the_Pirate said:

How did we get the SU 29s in the first place? On that note, why does China's 5th Gen fighter look just like ours? People be stealin!!!

You probably mean MiG-29, same generation as the Su-27.

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More speculation here and also mention of the SU-27 (though only in speculation)

"There have been repeated sightings of Sukhoi Su-27 "Flanker" fighters over Nevada, with the latest sighting in January. "

http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/news/a28146/mystery-aircraft-crashes-in-nevada-desert/

 

 

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18 minutes ago, Prif_the_Pirate said:

How did we get the SU 29s in the first place? On that note, why does China's 5th Gen fighter look just like ours? People be stealin!!!

- There is no information available that a SU29 was involved in the crash

- A SU29 is an aerobatic aircraft with combustion engine and on the market for >25 years so its unlikely that such an A/C is subject to testflights at Nellis Range

- Concepts get stolen but 5th Gen fighters not

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7 minutes ago, Stiff said:

More speculation here and also mention of the SU-27 (though only in speculation)

"There have been repeated sightings of Sukhoi Su-27 "Flanker" fighters over Nevada, with the latest sighting in January. "

http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/news/a28146/mystery-aircraft-crashes-in-nevada-desert/

See link in post #4:

Quote

Private ownership

According to the U.S. FAA there are 2 privately owned Su-27s in the U.S.[78] Two Su-27s from the Ukrainian Air Force were demilitarised and sold to Pride Aircraft of Rockford, Illinois, USA. Pride Aircraft modified some of the aircraft to their own desires by remarking all cockpit controls in English and replacing much of the Russian avionics suite with Garmin, Bendix/King, and Collins avionics. The aircraft were both sold to private owners for approximately $5 million each.[79]

CT olè!

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16 minutes ago, Merc14 said:

You probably mean MiG-29, same generation as the Su-27.

Yes thank you. Glad to have an aviator to keep me honest!

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3 minutes ago, toast said:

See link in post #4:

CT olè!

Intersting. There's some goofball near my place with an old Russian training fighter. I still believe that we could be testing enemy 5th Gen tech. Maybe someone pulled some Firefox **** haha.

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1 minute ago, Prif_the_Pirate said:

Yes thank you. Glad to have an aviator to keep me honest!

To answer your initial question:

Quote

It’s one of 17 MiG-29s the U.S. government purchased from the former Soviet state of Moldova in 1997, a deal that kept the jets from being sold to Iran. The loose confederation that replaced the Soviet Union was not in a position to stop the buy, and it became one more ignominy in the Soviet collapse. (...)

The acquisition also gave Western analysts, some of them working inside the grim edifice of this national intelligence center, a chance to study the fighter that they had been viewing from afar for 20 years. When it first showed up, in 1977, the MiG-29, like its very distant ancestor, the MiG-15, was a startling revelation: The Soviets were catching up with U.S. aeronautical technology.

link

 

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Sounds like some sort of new air frame was being put through trials since such an experienced pilot perished. Most pilots flying an extant plane would have ejected. Apparently, he didn't or couldn't from this one.

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1 hour ago, Prif_the_Pirate said:

Intersting. There's some goofball near my place with an old Russian training fighter. I still believe that we could be testing enemy 5th Gen tech. Maybe someone pulled some Firefox **** haha.

He may fly it in air shows.  A guy I sued to fly with pilots a Mig-17 in air shows around the country.

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4 minutes ago, Merc14 said:

He may fly it in air shows.  A guy I sued to fly with pilots a Mig-17 in air shows around the country.

That's exactly what he did. It was kind of cool. I work on an AF Airfield though so jets blowing over my head drive me up a wall now haha

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Mysterious Air Force Crash Reportedly Involved a Foreign Plane

The pilot was likely evaluating a foreign fighter, such as a Russian Sukhoi jet.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/news/a28158/mysterious-air-force-crash-nevada-foreign-aircraft/
 

Quote

 

.... sources tell Aviation Week that the pilot involved in the crash, Lt. Col. Eric Schultz, was a squadron commander of an Air Force unit that tests and evaluates foreign aircraft. If this is the case, the most likely explanation is that Schultz was piloting a foreign jet at the time of the crash.

Airmen who flight test foreign military planes, sometimes called Red Hats, are part of an unnumbered unit within Detachment 3 of the 53rd Test and Evaluation Group, stationed out of Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. A press release from Nellis indicates that the aircraft involved in the incident belonged to Air Force Material Command, which oversees Detachment 3 of the 53rd. Flight testing foreign jets was previously conducted by the 413th Flight Test Squadron and the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron before that.

These units have been known to operate a variety of Russian-built fighter aircraft, including the MiG-29 and several jets built by Russian aviation contractor Sukhoi. The Su-27 air superiority fighter, for example, was spotted flying over the Nevada Test and Training Range this past January.

The exact aircraft type involved in the crash is still unknown, though it could be an Su-27 or possibly even the newer Su-30 multirole fighter, which Russia has sold to multiple U.S. allies such as Indonesia and Vietnam. Evaluating Russian aircraft has become a priority for the U.S. Air Force these days, as aerial encounters between the two militaries over Syria and the Baltics have become more common.

 

 

 

Cz

Edited by Czero 101
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