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Call them show offs but that's what Russian pilots do to any intelligence aircraft.pilots are showoffs
They have the right to be.pilots are showoffs
If you have balls, you turn your RC-135 anyway. Chances are that the big bird can probably better sustain collision damage than the little bird; recall the incident of April 2001 between a US Navy EP-3 reconnaissance plane an a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) naval F-8 fighter over the South China Sea: the fighter crashed, killing the pilot, but the EP-3 survived to make an emergency landing. (ok, they landed in an awkward location, but other than that .... ;-)Call them show offs but that's what Russian pilots do to any intelligence aircraft.
Somewhere in april last year an American RC-135U "Combat Sent" electronic intelligence aircraft was intercepted by a pair of Russian Su-27 Flankers.
The RC-135U probably detected the su-27s coming because of their powerful radar emissions. One of the su-27 flew underneath the aircraft and then popped up forward of the RC-135's cockpit and then it rolled sharply to show its the mounted air-to-air missiles underneath it.And all this happened at distance of 100 feet.
RC-135U did not have too many options with its limited visibility and the presence of another flanker near by made it hard for RC-135U to make any sudden sharp turns.
Did I say they couldn't/shouldn't? (although I figure real professional fighter jocks know restraint)They have the right to be.
EP-3 is a big plane while fighter aircraft are more nimble, so am not surprised that PLA fighter plane plunged into sea after the bump.If you have balls, you turn your RC-135 anyway. Chances are that the big bird can probably better sustain collision damage than the little bird; recall the incident of April 2001 between a US Navy EP-3 reconnaissance plane an a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) naval F-8 fighter over the South China Sea: the fighter crashed, killing the pilot, but the EP-3 survived to make an emergency landing. (ok, they landed in an awkward location, but other than that .... ;-)
Showing a weapons load carried .... I doubt pilots are very impressed. The very presence of the fighter and ik making dangerous manouvres is probably far more disconcerting.
I told you, Russian pilots 're always more aggressive towards the spy planes, intimidation in such cases is not unheard of. In rest of the incidents Russians have maintained safe distance.Did I say they couldn't/shouldn't? (although I figure real professional fighter jocks know restraint)
The chinese pilot who bumped into the American EP-3 went missing (and most prolly dead), imo he did not maintain the safe distance while flying below EP-3.
He came up on us twice, and both times were really close. The second time, I could see him right out of our cockpit -- he was like ten feet away. Looking right in his face, I was like, "This isn't good." We were nervous. I'm just guarding the autopilot, making sure we don't make any movements into him because it was that close, a couple of feet from hitting us.
He dropped away once, came back. The second time I was like, "OK, he's going home for sure." Then when I heard him come the third time, I had an eerie feeling. I just knew he was going to hit us, because he wasn't stable. He was all over. The third time, you heard screams coming from the back as he came and he pitched up into us. ...
The plane just shook violently and we kind of pitched up. I heard a pop, and that was his nose hitting ours. He shot off to the side and we were upside down before I knew it. [I was] trying to stop the plane from going completely inverted ... and I was pretty certain we were dead at that point.
We were upside down in a large reconnaissance aircraft. I had lost my nose. I could hear the wind screaming through the plane, and I knew that number one prop was violently shaking. We were pretty much inverted. I was looking up at the ocean, so it was not a good feeling.