From BBC:

1011: More on the US warplane that crashed late on Monday in Libya. It is understood that the pilot was taken by rebels and is safe, the Telegraph says. So far there have been no independent confirmation of this report.

0959: The Telegraph now says that the crashed US warplane is an F-15E Eagle

Not entirely true. More info on the high side for those at work.

From BBC:

1011: More on the US warplane that crashed late on Monday in Libya. It is understood that the pilot was taken by rebels and is safe, the Telegraph says. So far there have been no independent confirmation of this report.

0959: The Telegraph now says that the crashed US warplane is an F-15E Eagle

Not entirely true. More info on the high side for those at work.

CNN has nearly the same report now...one crew member still in country. Per the report, wish they would have kept quiet on this until all personnel fully recovered.

You mean to suggest that the media consider the intel value of information before they report? Blasphemy!

Some pictures and minimal info here.

Glad the crew is ok. I'd love to learn more, but I'm not going in today and for the moment, the fact that our guys are ok is the important part.

Sounds like both are ok and, yes, I wish the media would just shut up when a jet goes down during wartime ops.

There's no such thing as keeping something like this quiet in the information age. All those dudes standing on the jet have cell phones with cameras.

All those dudes standing on the jet have cell phones with cameras.

Fox just showed what appeared to be live ordnance at the crash site. I'm not a "carnivore," but when the fin they show has "AIM-120," and "No Lift" written on it, I assume that's a missile. I also think it's safe to assume that the Libyan rebels don't have EOD to go take care of it.

Edited March 22, 201114 yr by outbreak

Jet Reportedly Crash Lands in Libya, but Crew Safe

Eh, that doesn't look like much of a "landing" to me.

Glad to hear everyone walked away and into the hands of the "good guys".

Looking at the footage it appears to be this tail no. https://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Air/McDonnell-Douglas-F-15E/1449488/L/

I remember this being our nightmare scenario during ONW and OSW, I don't think we ever lost a jet during that time but we took the CSAR training day pretty seriously. I hope this is not a bad omen.

Good thing there's no composites or other respiratory toxins in that -E wreckage.

Breathe deeply, boys,... it's probably no big deal.

Edited March 22, 201114 yr by Huggyu2

Tail #304.

Now we know how the Pawn Stars got access to an AMRAAM, maybe now they can get a Sidewinder as well.

Video here

Edited March 22, 201114 yr by ClearedHot

Is it just me or do the rebel dudes (who we're looking out for) look way too happy to be walking around a busted up jet that hours before was trying to protect their asses?

We can we drop a GBU on it to curtail the stripping process?

Semper Fi

I look forward to learn, from open sources, who picked up the second guy.

Tough to tell for sure, but it appears this guy front and center is in the midst of falling and busting his arse. Bet that was a McDonnell Douglas design feature...take THAT, impudent rebel.

One Libyan who came across the crashed jet told Britain's Daily Telegraph that one pilot held his hands in the air and said "OK, OK", but was quickly thanked by locals for his participation in the air strikes.Younis Amruni told the Telegraph: "I hugged him and said 'don't be scared, we are your friends'."

A reporter for Britain's Channel 4 said six villagers were shot and injured as a US helicopter attempted to rescue the crew. She said one man expected his young son to lose a leg due to a bullet wound but that the locals did not appear resentful over the shootings

Source: BBC

More details (scroll down for video): C4

Good article - of course filtered through the media, so who knows how accurate it is - about the crew's treatment while in Libya, from the National Review.

More at the link...

‘Not long after the pilot’s arrival, rebel officials brought him a bouquet of flowers. . .’

March 22, 2011 3:46 P.M.

By Daniel Foster

The Daily Beast has a compelling roundup of the facts, such as they are, of the time spent by a downed F-15E pilot and his back-seater among the rebels outside Benghazi:

One of the pilots was picked up by rebel forces near the site of the crash and brought by car to the Fadeel Hotel in Benghazi around 2 a.m., according to a handful of people who said they met with the pilot. It’s unclear why the opposition forces brought the pilot to that particular hotel. Dina Omar, 30, an Egyptian cardiologist who has been volunteering at the rebel frontlines was in the Internet café at the hotel at the time. She heard from the hotel staff that a pilot had been brought in and went to see him in a large suite in the hotel. She saw a man wearing a light brown pilot suit in his early 30s lying down on a couch. “He was feeling insecure and unsafe,” she said. “He did not talk much.”

According to an NPR report, American Marines, using an Osprey aircraft, recovered one of the airmen. The other crewmember was recovered by rebel forces and is now in U.S. hands, according to the Associated Press.

BOOM!

“He did not talk much.”

shocking

BOOM!

Thank you for contributing to the conversation.

Please fell free to elaborate.

I guess no one told them what the vert and horizontal stabs are made from.

Over the years the media has proven that they don't know the difference between a pilot and a WSO. All of the news I seen about this crash refers to the "two pilots". Now I ran across this article with the following excerpt:

"A U.S. official said in Washington said the other crew member, a weapon systems officer who is also a pilot, was recovered by rebel forces and is now in American hands."

Is there such a thing as a WSO who is also a pilot? Or is this article just twice as wrong?