Pilot survives F18 ditching off Queensland Coast
 

There doesn't appear to be any new links yet, however a US Pilot has ejected safely from his F18 during a night landing mishap, on the carrier USS Ronald Reagan, off the Queensland/NSW coast. Four other F18s airborne at the time had to divert to Brisbane and await the all clear to return.

It's going again after the jellyfish incident? :ouch:

News footage tonight showed aircrew being 'interviewed' by Customs at Brisbane airport. I can just imagine what the inbound Declaration Form said about the missiles and other ordinance obviously hanging off the aircraft.

If I remember my military rules, they wouldn't (shouldn't) have had much in the way of ID apart from 'dogtags' either. Come to think of it, how'd they pay their landing, AsA and fuel fees ?:eek:

tipsy:E

I bet they could not show an ASIC badge either, and everyone knows you are a terrorist if you go into an RPT airport without one.
Lucky they were not shot on the spot. :E

ASIC's nah their Friendlies
 

Dingo mate,

you hit that one on the head!

Funny how a leathol weapon albeit a friendly can be accepted in yet they and the media think its us "doing the right thing" in case of a divesion. And it is Doing the Right Thing.

Anybody wonder what happens if you have to do the same in your C182....and no ASIC......you dont look like USAF now do you.

Worse still, imagine that in some other more backward country.........you might be lucky to get out at all.

Funny world we live in.

J:ok:

Serious question from a non-pilot person - why did they land at Brisbane instead of RAAF Amberly?

Glad it wasn't one of ours.

With replacements far off, Australia is going to be short of fighters soon.

Hours of Business
 

Minimbah

Probably a whole host of reasons, first....YBBN is closer.....kind of important if your fuel load is lighter than you would like. They do have customs etc....and as silly as it sounds its necessary I think. And yes the other significant factor is Amberley is usually closed down at that time so nobody would have been home...even if the lights were on.....

Cheers
J:ok:

They'll be fine so long as they werent carrying knives longer than 3inches, a squash racquet or some fruit!!

More importantly, glad to hear the pilot survived for tea and biccies with the XO.

J430,

Suggest that if you rocked up in a C182, which was registered to a foreign government, carrying your ID as the duly qualified commander and had declared some sort of emergency as the reason for the divert, then you'd have no trouble, s'long as you kept to certain limited, relevant areas of the airfield and then got going again once the reason for the emergency/divert had been sorted. They'll prolly overlook your bail-out pistol but your rat-pack can-opener and nail clippers might get you into all sorts...

I read somewhere that the seppos pretty much budget to have one or two a/c go over the side, per cruise, per carrier (ie. roll-offs and other non-combat losses). Means that there must be a bunch of Tomcats & Hornets scattered around the ocean floor...

And if that $37m mentioned as the cost in the SMH story is the replacement value of a Hornet, that sounds pretty cheap to me... Surely these days, the one in the drink would be a Super Hornet, costing rather more than $37m?!

Minimbah...
They landed at BNE because there is a better duty free shop at BNE international and wanted to use the $500 US they carry in case of capture...

Their aircraft are legally U.S. Territory so as long as they stay on board I guess they are in US territory. But its a pisser if they want to leave. I take it they gassed up and left eventually?

Why would they be carrying weapons on night landing practice?

I imagine there would be a number of countries that would challenge your interpretation of sovereignty if you are inside theri airspace or on the ground although having a few missiles and full gun magazines might give you some bargaining power but I don't think you would need an asic card

I hear the RAAF is mounting a covert salvage operation to attempt to solve their spares shortage....;)

Nope, that's because they would be looking like they're from the USN.

There are 4 F-18 squadrons on that "boat". Does anyone know whether it was a super hornet that ditched or one of those old "C" models???:sad:

http://www.reagan.navy.mil/air_wing/air_wing.htm

Very unconfirmed report suggests VFA-25.

The USN web site calls them 'Fist of the Fleet'. :rolleyes: I don't get all this huah crap the yanks go on with.

It's all to do with their national inferiority complex, if they tell everyone how good they are for long enough, they start believing it themselves :hmm: