POLITICS: US spy plane crashes in SW Asia

A U2 spy plane has crashed in SW Asia at 2330 GMT on Tuesday.
No other details are available.



Where was the U2 coming from, where had it been taking pictures, and what brought it down. These are the questions that I raise.

SW Asia is a big neighbourhood. If anybody can find additional information we might be able to get the answers.

Ouch, those things are pretty expensive arent they? Nothing like multi-million dollar fender benders.

I would say that it was either going from or to either Afghanistan or North Korea.

[edit on 22/6/05 by subz]

on a thread here too :
Thread other events forum

Good link here
BBc Latest

went down in middle east and also no recue operation or investigation underway because the Americans see 'host' problems see link above.

Most probably Iran

Regards elf.

From the BBC:

Central Command gave no details of the plane's mission, and said the cause of the crash and the condition of the pilot were currently unknown.

"The specific location is not releasable due to host nation sensitivities," US Air Force Capt David W Small, a Central Command spokesman, told the news agency.

AP says south-west Asia is a phrase often used by the US military to refer to the Middle East.

Link

Hmm....US plane brought down in "SW Asia", which is US military speak for the ME. Host nation "sensitivities"....hmmm..... I second the motion it's Iran.

If it is, no doubt we will hear from them at some point....

Thanks Mischevious,

The link gives us little more to work with.

The other link appeared as I was simultaneously writing my post and doing my real job. (Work got in the way)(Don't tell my boss)

My guess, western China maybe.......

MSNBC is reporting that the U-2 was surveying Afghanistan and the pilot died attempting to land in UEA
MSNBC

"Host sensitivities" means United Arab Emirates (UAE) doesn't want Al Jazeera reminding all the Al Qaeda guys that the US is using their soil to launch bombing and survielance missions over other muslim countries. Most Arab and muslim nations want to keep any involvement with the US military efforts quiet for fear of retaliation by the extremists and backlash from other nations in their region.

The question I have is whether the aircraft was actually flying the "edge" of Afghan airspace survieling Pakistan or Iran. That could ratchet things up a little with Iran or spook Bin Laden if we really do know where he is as CIA director Goss eluded to this weekend.

Where it crashed is only a small indication of where it had been. There are so many 'persons of interest' in that hemisphere.

North Korea
Taiwan
Pakistan
Iran
Syria
Lebanon

perhaps Shangri-La?

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. Air Force U-2 spy plane involved in a mission in
Afghanistan crashed while returning to its base in the United Arab Emirates, killing the pilot, the military said Wednesday.

news.yahoo.com...

Seems I was correct The U-2 was surveying Afghanistan and crashed whilst RTB.

It was getitng about time to lose another U-2. We seem to lose one every couple of years, usually due to pilot error, either on take off or landing. It climbs so steeply that the pilots will occasionally stall the aircraft and crash. And on landing it's extremely hard to land. The Dragon Lady has that nickname for a very good reason.

There were a number of instances where the bird blew the tail section off shortly after takeoff... I don't recall any instances of a Deuce pilot stalling the bird on climb out...

The Deuce is a very difficult aircraft to land and considering the fatigue factor of a nine hour mission (typical mission length) landing accidents aren't all that uncommon...

During landing, the U-2 is chased by a ground support vehicle, often a Mustang or a Z-28 Camaro, driven by another Deuce pilot... The driver calls out altitudes as the bird approaches the runway... A perfect landing is a stall just about a foot off the deck...

As twitchy as the U-2 is, it's easy to balloon the aircraft... This will occasionally result in a PIO... Pilot Induced Oscillation... and a stout prang off the runway...

I'd bet that it was pilot error... God bless the pilot and give peace to his family...

So did this story get posted in other current events or moved there?

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I'm not understanding why it's there instead of as a news story?

There was a crash about four or five years ago now out of Beale where the pilot stalled out on take off and was killed when he ejected.

If you're referring the accident back in 1996 or 1997, the boat tail blew off that aircraft shortly after takeoff during departure...

It was a Class A Mishap that did result in the loss of the aircraft and pilot but it was a mechanical problem, not pilot error... That was the conclusion of the accident review board as published in the Blue Four News...

Ok I had to go way back but I found one!

Pilot: Capt. Robert A. Henderson apparently stalled the U-2R on take-off and crashed into an operations building, killing himself and 4 RAF airman and 2 Cypriots.


China shot down several U-2s, at least 2 were lost when pilot lost consciousness and it kept flying until it impacted something.

www.blackbirds.net...

Excellent job of searching!!! My hat's off to you!!!

This is the Class A that I was referring to:

80-1088 art.#088
Built as TR-1A*, Dec 1987
On 9 Jan 1990, Ran off end of runway during landing, due to tail gear steering bearing locking up, USAF Pilot: Capt. Dan Sanders was okay.
Transferred to 9 SRW, Aug 1991
Crashed on 7 Aug 1996, in Oroville(CA) Mercury Register, killing 1 civilian on ground, and USAF Pilot: Capt. Randy Roby ejected but was killed. 1088 was destroyed in crash.


My knowledge of the Deuce is second hand but still pretty accurate... While serving as Chief of Stan/Eval attached to the 12th FTW out of Randolph AFB the guy who was my Assistant Chief was a 10 year veteran U-2 pilot... That accident occurred during the time frame we worked together...