The plane had been escorted by two F-16 fighter jets since shortly after it crossed into U.S. airspace from Canada, and the pilot did not respond to multiple requests that he establish communications with ground controllers.They escorted him with F-16s? I'm no pilot, but I would have thought that the top speed of a Cessna would be something under 200 mph. What is the stall speed of an F-16?
Anyway, I bet it was an interesting trip. I wonder why the guy didn't talk to air controllers? I wonder if he'll get to keep his pilot's license? I wonder if a Sidewinder will lock onto a Cessna?
All these questions...
They escorted him with F-16s? I'm no pilot, but I would have thought that the top speed of a Cessna would be something under 200 mph. What is the stall speed of an F-16?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I bet it was an interesting trip. I wonder why the guy didn't talk to air controllers? I wonder if he'll get to keep his pilot's license? I wonder if a Sidewinder will lock onto a Cessna?
All these questions...
I'm a pilot(primarily UH-1, but I have some airplane time too), so let me answer a few of those questions for you.
A Cessna 172 would only do 200 mph in a dive, and IIRC that exceeds its VNE(velocity never exceed).
I don't know what the official stall speed of an F-16 is, but I would guess near or over 100 mph, even lightly loaded. But when doing air intersepts of helicopters or slow planes in a fast-mover, you generally do "race track" patterns around the slower aircraft, if their speed is below your minimum safe airspeed.
Since a Sidewinder is a heatseeker, it would probably lock on to the Cessna's engine in flight. But shooting down a civilian aircraft is verbotten unless it presents a "clear and present danger" to the public, government, or public infastructure(power plant, major dam, government building, etc.)
As for his license, this idiot can likely kiss it goodbye.
The international distress frequencies for aircraft are 121.5 MHz(civil) and 243.0 MHz(military). Why didn't he talk to ATC? 'Cause he didn't want to, most likely.
Although student pilots can do some dumb things, let me tell you. Like the time Mrs. Termite did her first cross-country solo flight, and wound up in Restricted Area 3801, between AEX and Fort Polk............
Termite
The idiot's objective WAS to get shot down, but he didn't plan that very well. He should have done steep turns in the vicinity of the nearest nuke power plant, and he would have gotten his wish.
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