Services set Sunday for F-22 Pilot

Memorial Monday for pilot killed in jet crash
By CASEY GROVE
casey.grove@adn.com
Published: November 20th, 2010 03:57 PM
Last Modified: November 20th, 2010 03:58 PM
A memorial will be Monday for the pilot who died when his F-22 Raptor crashed in a valley between two mountains after vanishing from radar on a nighttime training flight last week, military officials said today.


Meanwhile, hundreds of Army and Air Force personnel continue to comb through the crash area to find Capt. Jeffrey Haney's remains, recover pieces of the stealth fighter jet, and try to find out why it went down.

At the family's request, only personnel from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and select friends from the local community would be allowed to attend the memorial, scheduled for 3:25 p.m. at Hangar One on base.

Investigators would be heading to the crash site, east of the Susitna River and south of the Denali Highway. The search and recovery efforts are based at the previously shuttered Susitna Lodge about two miles east of a bridge over the Upper Susitna, said John Pennell, a military spokesman in the base's emergency operations center.

The family and the military ask that instead of flowers or gifts, donations specifying "For the Jeffrey Haney children" be made at AirWarriorCourage.org. Donations can also be made by sending a check to AWCF, and mailed to AWCF, P.O. Box 877, Silver Spring, MD 20918-0877.

The check should be designated "For the Jeffrey Haney children."

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Fence hanging ...

Today out at Rick Husband International Airport.

Short video I slapped together showing a little bit of the "unofficial airport jet fuel fumes appreciation society and photographers club" meeting today. Sorry in advance for the camera shake - forgot my monopod! We had fun anyway.

F-22 Pilot Presumed Dead

Washington (CNN) -- Search-and-rescue teams have found "conclusive evidence" that the pilot of an F-22 aircraft that crashed while on a routine training mission in Alaska did not survive, the military said Friday.

Air Force Capt. Jeffrey Haney, who was assigned to the 525th Fighter Squadron, 3rd Wing, has been missing since the crash Tuesday night. Crews have found the wreckage of the plane.
Haney "did not eject from the aircraft prior to impact," said Air Force Col. Jack McMullen, 3rd Wing commander. McMullen made the remarks Friday in written and video statements.

A recovery team found part of the ejection seat and several life support items that Haney wore during the flight.
"If a pilot was able to eject, the seat would go with him and it would not be anywhere at or near the site," McMullen said.

"Sadly, we can no longer consider this a search-and-rescue operation, but must now focus on recovery operations," McMullen said.

"This is a huge loss for the 3rd Wing and for the Air Force, but it's even a greater loss ... and a very emotional time for the entire Haney family," McMullen said. "We are doing everything we can to support them right now."


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Tanks for the Taliban ...

Washington (CNN) -- The United States is beefing up its firepower in Afghanistan by employing heavily armored tanks in Afghanistan for the first time in the nine-year war, a military spokesman said Friday.

The U.S. Marine Corps plans to use a company of M1A1 Abrams tanks in restive Helmand province by early spring, Marine Maj. Gabrielle Chapin said.

The M1A1 tank is the fastest and most deadly ground combat weapons system available. It will allow for more aggressive missions while mitigating risks to U.S. forces, the military said.

The tanks were used successfully by U.S. forces to battle insurgents in Iraq's Anbar province, Chapin said.

"They bring superior optics, maneuverability and precision firepower that will enable us to isolate insurgent forces from key population centers and provide the ability to project power into insurgent safe havens," he said.
Other coalition forces, including those from Canada, already have used tanks in Afghanistan.

"Quite frankly, given the nature of the fight, they are very much needed," said Jeffrey Dressler, an analyst for the Institute for the Study of War.
He said Gen. David Petraeus, who took over as the top American commander in Afghanistan in June, has taken a much more aggressive fight against the insurgency.

The deployment of the tanks dovetails with that approach.
They signal a more definitive presence for U.S. troops, said Col. John King, commander of the Georgia Army National Guard's 48th Infantry Brigade, who led an armored battalion in Iraq during the worst of that war in 2005 and 2006.
"The M1 tank is a formidable machine," King said. "It's a formidable message. It signifies commitment, that we're committed."


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Space Shuttle Discovery flight rescheduled for Dec 3

If all goes well, Discovery should be ready to launch on Dec. 3 at 2:52 a.m. EST (0752 GMT), NASA officials said in an update. A series of safety reviews is still ahead before the shuttle is completely cleared for flight, they added.

Discovery has been stuck on Earth since Nov. 5, when a potentially dangerous hydrogen gas leak on the shuttle's external tank forced NASA to stand down for repairs. Foul weather and other glitches thwarted several earlier launch attempts that week.

Since then, NASA engineers have replaced a misaligned seal to plug the hydrogen leak and are now working to reinforce metal ribs on the external tank where cracks were discovered while the leak repairs were being performed.

The cracks are on two of 108 metal ribs around the upper middle portion of the tank that provide structural support. There are two cracks on each of the ribs. NASA shuttle technicians are installing double-wide ribs – called doublers – to reinforce the cracked areas.

Another crack, this one in the exterior foam insulation on Discovery's fuel tank, will also be repaired.

While the fuel tank rib repairs are under way, NASA shuttle program managers plan to review their rationale for flying Discovery with the repairs. If during that meeting, slated for Nov. 24, shuttle officials agree that Discovery is ready to fly, the space agency will hold a final review on Nov. 29 to clear the shuttle for liftoff, NASA officials said.

NASA's upcoming STS-133 shuttle mission will be the final flight of shuttle Discovery before it is retired along with the rest of the U.S. orbiter fleet in 2011.

The 11-day mission will send a crew of six astronauts to the International Space Station to deliver a storage room for the orbiting lab, as well as a humanoid robot built designed to help astronauts with work in space. Two spacewalks are planned.

NASA's upcoming window to launch Discovery opens on Nov. 30 and will close around Dec. 6 to avoid heating concerns caused by unfavorable sun angles at the space station after that, agency officials have said. NASA's shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to fly to the station during the next available window, which opens in late February.

NASA is retiring the space shuttle fleet to make way for a new plan aimed at sending astronauts to visit an asteroid by 2025. After Discovery's flight, NASA has only one more mission – Endeavour's – scheduled before the fleet is retired.

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