Thread: Close Call - Terrifying Mid-Air Collision (Video)

Originally Posted by A*aron

Try to not tear this student pilot apart but I must have missed something. Where the ga pilots in restricted airspace already when the f16 was messing with them?

ATC said they would try to get him out of the MOA, so I assume he was flying through it. Just remember Restricted airspace and MOAs are different. Boy, that pilot was pissed. I have the utmost respect for fighter pilots, but some of them get that "cowboy" mentality and end up getting themselves or someone else killed.

I would never rip student pilots apart it's the most stupid thing you can do when someone is asking a genuine question. I hate it when pilots think they have the right to attack a student pilot just because they ask a question. When flying, any question, is a valid question because one day ur student is going to be riding on ur ticket if ur his CFI or flying a plane and be scared to ask questions when he really needs the answer. So please ask away all you want, never be scared to ask questions, especially when it comes to flying.

Having said that, from the video it seems that the two GA airplanes were cruising through an active MOA legally and the F16 pilot just felt like being a complete douche and chased them around. Apparently the F16 Pilot was reprimanded but I doubt he suffered any major consequences. I respect the AF too but if you put a monkey in a suit, it's still a monkey and they end up ruining things for everyone.

Originally Posted by skycap

I would never rip student pilots apart it's the most stupid thing you can do when someone is asking a genuine question. I hate it when pilots think they have the right to attack student pilot just because they as a question. When flying, any question is a valid question because one day ur student is going to be riding on ur ticket if ur his CFI or flying a plane and be scared to ask questions when he really needs the answer. So please ask away all you want, never be scared to ask questions, especially when it comes to flying.

Having said that, from the video it seems that the two GA airplanes were cruising through an active MOA legally and the F16 pilot just felt like being a complete douche and chased them around. Apparently the F16 Pilot was reprimanded but I doubt he suffered any major consequences. I respect the AF too but if you put a monkey in a suit, it's still a monkey and they end up ruining things for everyone.

Agree 110% with all of this

Ok see thats what I got out of the video but when I read your post I thought you were blaming the GA for being there and not listening to ATC...

Thanks for the help

Skycap you are talking about the R-2507. The tri-valley in there is busy especially on weekends. Joshua tree gives us traffic calls as we monitor their freq while we run our tactics but never the less it can be dangerous.

Originally Posted by skycap

Yeah there is a Military Operations Area adjacent to some Restricted airspace on the way to Vegas from the L.A. area which I will never go through. Even though you can fly through a MOA it's just not worth it if you are vfr imo. Take a look at this one where two GA aircraft got chased around by an F16. Some guys are just stupid, it's hard to understand why they'd be given a license to fly.

In regards to this...I remember reading about this. The F-16's were running radar intercepts beyond visual range. There was confusion on ATC's part as to whether the MOA was active or not and there were altitude discrepancies as well. This is a very rare case and I'm sure these pilots faced some serious consequences.