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From The Cockpit: Highway Operations

Scott Wolff 2 Comments Military Aviation

Imagine for a moment, if you will, you’re a fighter pilot in an air force whose home station has just fallen victim to an airstrike.

You look out across the airfield and see the runway has been decimated. Some of the aircraft themselves have taken hits, but still others have survived unscathed. With no runway, how are you going to get those jets off the ground and into the fight?

Highways.

European Air Forces have been practicing for this very contingency for decades. Finnish F/A-18s, RAF Jaguars, Luftwaffe Tornadoes have all done it. Ideal environment for launching and recovering combat aircraft? Absolutely not. Could it be done in a pinch? Absolutely.

So today, FighterSweep Fans, we take you inside the cockpit for such austere environment training operations. You will be along for the ride with MiG-29s and SU-25s from the Russian Air Force, making use of a rural highway to validate the practice of finding alternate surfaces and means to get fighters into the sky for a worst-case scenario.

Certainly something you don’t see every day!!

(Featured photo courtesy of YouTube)

About the Author

Scott Wolff is an accomplished writer and renowned aviation photojournalist. He has held the position of Managing Editor for a print flying lifestyle magazine, and is the Host and Editor for FighterSweep. Scott's area of expertise is military flight operations, drawing on ten years of experience working extensively with all branches of the armed forces. He holds an FAA pilot certificate, the culmination of a life-long passion for flying airplanes. Scott has received military altitude chamber training, emergency egress training, and has logged time in a variety of civilian and military aircraft. He is also a member of the International Society of Aviation Photographers and Nikon Professional Services.

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