No, you have to be in the correct position to eject. Also if one accidentally ejects, you don't want to lose a perfectly good airplane too.

I wouldn't be surprised if the WSO had company the first night. Good company of a PJ and 3 Operators.

BQ78 said:

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No, you have to be in the correct position to eject. Also if one accidentally ejects, you don't want to lose a perfectly good airplane too.

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Curious to know if you can still fly without the canopy? Seems like it would be very limited with regard to speed & altitude if so

Stall speed of an F-15 is about 140mph. And if the canopy is gone, one or both of the occupants is probably gone, which means their half of the cockpit just got blasted with a rocket.

Possible, maybe.

Unlikely. And it wouldn't be fun

how is it that the two C-130s get stuck in the sand at the remote landing site

but then other heavy aircraft fly in and make it out?

this is like the 1980 Carter Desert disaster in reverse

A Dash-8 is vastly lighter than a C-130. I think it's roughly 40K vs. 80K pounds empty weight, and the Hercs might have augered in the nose gear with the mass of the 2 little birds plus socom/Delta folks/gear etc. in the back.

They presumably did a whole lot of calculations as to moisture/condition of the old ag airfield but went with the Hercs for speed of infiltration/capacity (little bird grabbed the WSO from a ways off) with a plan ahead of time for backup exfil using the Foxhounds (otherwise they could have used CH-47's with stops on the way with the AH-6's).

CanyonAg77 said:

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I have a classmate, who's son, also an Aggie, would match the job and rank of the WSO in this incident.

Obviously, it matches several other individuals, as well.

Just a reminder that our Aggie brothers and sisters are likely in the middle of all of the Iran mess.

We will continue to pray for them and all their fellow service members.

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a backseater who is a Colonel?

that seems like a very unusual event.

considering many WSO are LTs or Captains

Newly winged WSOs typically enter operational squadrons as 1st Lieutenants (O-2) or Captains (O-3), as they commission as 2nd Lieutenants and are promoted during their training pipeline.

The most common operational rank you'll find in the cockpit is Captain (O-3), which is where most WSOs spend a large portion of their flying career.

Quote:

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a backseater who is a Colonel?

that seems like a very unusual event.

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I'm not the one claiming he or she is a colonel. It's Trump. And yes, he shoots from the hip, so he may not be accurate.

But if I were an O-5 or O-6, and felt like this was my one chance to actually put real bombs on real targets, I might be tempted to bump a junior officer so I could take my shot.

I just came here to ask if it was not unusual to have such a high-ranking officer as WSO on such a flight.

What would be the reasoning for that?

Edit: I did not know that the rank came from something Trump said, so that might explain it right there.

OldArmy71 said:

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I just came here to ask if it was not unusual to have such a high-ranking officer as WSO on such a flight.

What would be the reasoning for that?

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In my totally uniformed opinion, I assume it's either as above, someone who wanted combat experience, and had the pull to get there, or perhaps an experienced hand with knowledge and/or intel not available to lower ranks.

Third option, not a Colonel at all.

Today I learned Iran has national parks.

Ginormus Ag said:

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Today I learned Iran has national parks.

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Same. Best use of large barren mountains that can't be used for anything else.

"I know - we'll just call them national parks"

Deployed squadrons still have commanders and DOs

Not uncommon for LtCols to fly. If he was a true full bird, at little less common but the last line I flew into centcom had a full bird on one of the jets as the airlift package commander.

LMCane said:

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how is it that the two C-130s get stuck in the sand at the remote landing site

but then other heavy aircraft fly in and make it out?

this is like the 1980 Carter Desert disaster in reverse

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I had a dear friend, class of '62, who was piloting a C130, waiting in Egypt for the freed hostages that never came.

Ginormus Ag said:

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Today I learned Iran has national parks.

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And they have ski resorts

https://surfiran.com/mag/iran-ski-resorts/

My dad was flying combat missions in an A-4 as a Marine bird colonel during the first gulf war. So not unheard of.

CharlieBrown17 said:

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Deployed squadrons still have commanders and DOs

Not uncommon for LtCols to fly. If he was a true full bird, at little less common but the last line I flew into centcom had a full bird on one of the jets as the airlift package commander.

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The dude is a marathoner…folks aren't surprised he survived.

We were surprised he had gone back to ops…

LMCane said:

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as i have stated before- we should TODAY have mossad and CIA

capture a high ranking IRGC leader and hold him to exchange for any of our POWs

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Except they don't care any about the lives of their leaders or any of their people.

CanyonAg77 said:

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Quote:

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a backseater who is a Colonel?

that seems like a very unusual event.

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I'm not the one claiming he or she is a colonel. It's Trump. And yes, he shoots from the hip, so he may not be accurate.

But if I were an O-5 or O-6, and felt like this was my one chance to actually put real bombs on real targets, I might be tempted to bump a junior officer so I could take my shot.

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True statement. Downed WSO was an O-6 in a deployed leadership position. WSOs promote and the same pace and numbers as pilots. It's a separate career field and there are many WSOs in staff/leadership positions.

ABATTBQ87 said:

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Desert One in 1980 ended when a helicopter collided with a C-130 on a remote Iranian airstrip, killing eight Americans before the mission reached Tehran. Forty-six years later, C-130s were destroyed on Iranian soil again. This time the destruction was deliberate. This time the team got out. This time the man they came for came with them.

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Something about C-130s and landing in Iran don't mix.

I thought this mission set is exactly why we wanted the osprey.

I hope the bombed that F-15E that crashed back to the stone age too!! Don't want them getting a working radar which is light years ahead of their technology and more importantly, they will FedEx anything of value to Beijing so fast it will your head spin!!

Quote:

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Something about C-130s and landing in Iran don't mix.

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On a positive note, it is the best airframe we have in terms of keeping impotent Georgia peanut farmers from getting another shot of detroying America for 4 more years.

Looks like impact craters to the front of the C130 on left.

🚨 JUST IN: Iran is STUNNED at just how decisively America exploded our own equipment just to keep them from salvaging it

It’s so huge the aircraft shape is scorched into the ground!

NO MAN LEFT BEHIND, no spoils for our enemies! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/yjDwcOSQiP

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 5, 2026

LMCane said:

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CanyonAg77 said:

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I have a classmate, who's son, also an Aggie, would match the job and rank of the WSO in this incident.

Obviously, it matches several other individuals, as well.

Just a reminder that our Aggie brothers and sisters are likely in the middle of all of the Iran mess.

We will continue to pray for them and all their fellow service members.

---

a backseater who is a Colonel?

that seems like a very unusual event.

considering many WSO are LTs or Captains

Newly winged WSOs typically enter operational squadrons as 1st Lieutenants (O-2) or Captains (O-3), as they commission as 2nd Lieutenants and are promoted during their training pipeline.

The most common operational rank you'll find in the cockpit is Captain (O-3), which is where most WSOs spend a large portion of their flying career.

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My brother retired from the Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel and was still flying as a WSO in a F15E when he retired. But if I remember correctly, I don't think the Air Force really wanted someone of that rank still flying. I think he may have retired because they were hinting at moving him out of the cockpit.

Ag In Ok said:

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I thought this mission set is exactly why we wanted the osprey.

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Osprey was likely too big to rescue the pilot from a crevice on a mountain, needed something more nimble perhaps

CharlieBrown17 said:

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Deployed squadrons still have commanders and DOs

Not uncommon for LtCols to fly. If he was a true full bird, at little less common but the last line I flew into centcom had a full bird on one of the jets as the airlift package commander.

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I was at a conference and there were 2 guys in flight suits in front of me...one was a major and the other was an 0-7...

I was kind of surprised - not that an O-7 HAD been a pilot, but that he was wearing a flight suit, implying he still WAS a pilot.l

ABATTBQ87 said:

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Ginormus Ag said:

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Today I learned Iran has national parks.

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And they have ski resorts

https://surfiran.com/mag/iran-ski-resorts/

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Ag In Ok said:

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I thought this mission set is exactly why we wanted the osprey.

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This...

And AFSOC has a number of CV-22s just for this type of mission AFAIK...

Ag with kids said:

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CharlieBrown17 said:

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Deployed squadrons still have commanders and DOs

Not uncommon for LtCols to fly. If he was a true full bird, at little less common but the last line I flew into centcom had a full bird on one of the jets as the airlift package commander.

---

I was at a conference and there were 2 guys in flight suits in front of me...one was a major and the other was an 0-7...

I was kind of surprised - not that an O-7 HAD been a pilot, but that he was wearing a flight suit, implying he still WAS a pilot.l

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I suspect folks might still wear flight suits, even if not flying every day.

And the wife mentioned that maybe the Colonel in question was a reservist, which might explain why he's still flying at an advanced rank.

Again, the Airforce does things differently than the Navy, but a Navy NFO can be the squadron CO or even the CAG. If this is the same in the AF, he could have been the CO.

LMCane said:

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as i have stated before- we should TODAY have mossad and CIA

capture a high ranking IRGC leader and hold him to exchange for any of our POWs

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I'm not sure they care as much about getting their guys back as we do getting ours.

CanyonAg77 said:

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Ag with kids said:

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CharlieBrown17 said:

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Deployed squadrons still have commanders and DOs

Not uncommon for LtCols to fly. If he was a true full bird, at little less common but the last line I flew into centcom had a full bird on one of the jets as the airlift package commander.

---

I was at a conference and there were 2 guys in flight suits in front of me...one was a major and the other was an 0-7...

I was kind of surprised - not that an O-7 HAD been a pilot, but that he was wearing a flight suit, implying he still WAS a pilot.l

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I suspect folks might still wear flight suits, even if not flying every day.

And the wife mentioned that maybe the Colonel in question was a reservist, which might explain why he's still flying at an advanced rank.

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My friends dad was a general and still putting in his flight training hours to stay current.