An Israeli F-16 fighter jet has crashed in the West Bank, killing the pilot.

The 21-year-old pilot, Assaf Ramon, was the son of Israel's only astronaut, Ilan Ramon, who died in the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003.

Sunday's crash took place in a hilly area south of the city of Hebron, military officials said.

The jet was on a routine training flight, they added. There is no word on why it went down. Search and rescue crews are at the scene.

Ilan Ramon - who was a former fighter pilot himself - is regarded as a national hero in Israel, and media broke into their normal broadcasts to report his son's death.

Assaf Ramon and a portrait of his late astronaut father, in 2004

In pictures: Assaf Ramon crash

An unidentified Palestinian told Israeli TV that the plane had flown low over the southern West Bank before crashing.

"There was a huge fire," the eyewitness said.

Lt Assaf Ramon graduated from the Israeli air force pilot's course earlier this year.

The military statement said he had excelled in his training course, and had been given his wings by President Shimon Peres.

The Columbia disaster occurred on 1 February 2003.

The space shuttle disintegrated during re-entry over the US state of Texas, killing all seven astronauts on board.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8253465.stm

Good Riddance to bad chit.

God only knows how many bombs we was prepared to drop on top of Palestinians

"The 21-year-old pilot"

isn't that a bit young? especially to fly solo?

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Quoting a Turkish forumer:
"It's a well known fact that most of the boys or girls living in south-eastern Turkey are losing their virginities to horses or dogs of their villages, so I don't think this will suprise any Turk in this forum; we are used to these kinda news..."

yea it does seem rather young. they have a huge airforce relative to their population so that could be the reason.

Capt. Assaf Ramon, son of astronaut Ilan Ramon, dies in training flight crash

September 14, 2009, 9:56 AM (GMT+02:00)

The Israeli military has been ordered to investigate the cause of the F-16 crash in which Lt. Assaf Ramon, 20, promoted posthumously to captain, lost his life on a training flight in battle formation 80,000 ft. over the Hebron hills. The pilot of the second jet taking part in the exercise reported that 30 seconds before the crash, Assaf Ramon had stopped responding to communications, suggesting that a sharp turn may have affected his faculties, perhaps causing a momentary blackout.

The debris spread over a large area is being collected and carefully sifted for clues to the disaster. Earlier this year, Assaf Ramon and his flight instructor managed to restart the engine of a Skyhawk A4 after it suddenly died and return safely to base.

Assaf was the son of the Israeli astronaut and Air force Colonel Ilan Ramon who was killed six years ago aboard the Columbia spacecraft when it exploded over Southern Texas during reentry. In 1981, he astronaut flew one of the planes which bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor.

After the Columbia tragedy, Assaf announced plans to follow in his father's footsteps; he was killed in a training flight crash two months after graduating from flying course as valedictorian of his class.

US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who arrived in Israel Saturday night, conveyed the American people's condolences to the Ramon family for the tragedy of "a young man who died in his prime and in the line of duty."

President Hosni Mubarak voiced sympathy to prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu when they talked in Cairo Sunday.



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The Enemy is Confused.
Iran's Traditional External Enemies WASPS JUHUDS and ARABS are killing Each Other.
MKO vs Hbola is Mazhab Aleyhe Mazhab thesis
Communism=JUHUD=Bolshevik=Aksariyati=Bahai=
SAVAKI=Zionism=WASPS PLOTS=Saeed Emami =Ahmadinejad = Zarghami = Rahmati= Dehnamaki
F16I a poor answer to Shafagh
China is Behind Iran with the VETO power. Don't waste our time by mentioning UN sanctions.
History is a lousy teacher.
The Wealth of a Nation is its production and not the amount gold it has, Adam Smith 1776
Moses Jesus and Mohamad didn't have Father , they made stories about their Fathers !!!!
During the last 2500 years Iran has been ruled by Iranians for only 700 years.
China has Send US forces for Wild Goose Chase, in PG and Tora Bora, while it takes over Taiwan , and Korea will Nuke Japan.
The Most Unholiest Alliance >>>>>British Chinease Pact<<<. <br> Iran (China (UK)) is Encircling Middle East , Caribean and Panama Canal.
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RIP ...

SURRENDER OF PAKI ARMY IN 1971
1N 1971 A NEW HISTORY AS WELL AS A NEW NATION WAS CREATED BY WE THE INDIANS..

//"yea it does seem rather young. they have a huge airforce relative to their population so that could be the reason."//



He was still in advanced training.

Assaf Ramon:

israel airforce trains it's pilots at very young age. in 1973 there were 18-19 year old pilots flying skyhawks into battle.

Not by a long shot Prado. Pilots get enlisted at 18-19, but it takes years for them to become fulltime pilots, and 99.5% of them don't pass the course.

ok.. i taught it was a lot earlier...interesting

bcos from what i understood IAF pilots are much younger. bcos this pilot in question was 21. looking at paf example they intake at 18 or 17 (after high school) and after 3 years they graduate to F-7s and then later on to mirages and f-16s but that 2 a handful.

so an average f-16s pilot in PAF would probably be 26+.

On average, Israeli pilots sign on for 9 years, and most of them continue to career service. It's one of the only fields in the army which is strictly proffesional.

"It's one of the only fields in the army which is strictly proffesional."

And not without results, IAF has got the best pilots in the world from what i have heard.






colours of Kaziranga

//"And not without results, IAF has got the best pilots in the world from what i have heard. "//



I don't know about that, since it was never tested against every single air-force in the world, but in the late 90's and early 2000's, it played a series of war-game dogfights against the US Navy and Turkish air-force, beating the first 200:25, and the latter 200:7.

well yoad that is what pentagon experts think too. but i dont think it is kill ratio alone that make IAF so good it also to do with deployment of limited resources while achieving maximum results.... i personally think IAF is what the lutfwaffe was in WW2. they ran incredible kill ratio against allied pilots.

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Pakistan Airforce: The largest distributor of Indian airforce parts in Asia



Pathankot Strike
8 F-86Fs of No 19 Squadron led by Squadron Leader Sajjad Haider struck Pathankot airfield. With carefully positioned dives and selecting each individual aircraft in their protected pens for their strafing attacks, the strike elements completed a textbook operation against Pathankot. Wing Commander M G Tawab, flying one of the two Sabres as tied escorts overhead, counted 14 wrecks burning on the airfield. Among the aircraft destroyed on the ground were nearly all of the IAFs Soviet-supplied Mig-21s till then received, none of which were seen again during the War.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFHlzP69n9c

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