Interception. USAF F-15 Eagle Fighters Intercept Two Soviet MiG-29 Fighters

[Specop 007]

Pretty cool picture.


State of Alaska, USA, August 1, 1989 ? High above beautiful Earth, United States Air Force (USAF) F-15 Eagle fighter jets intercept two CCCP (Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and abbreviated as USSR) Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 fighters. The Soviet MiG-29s are, for the first time, traveling to the Abbotsford International Airshow in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, to participate in the August 1989 airshow. The USAF F-15 Eagle interceptors actively guarding North American and United States of America's airspace are with the 21st Tactical Fighter Wing, headquartered at Elmendorf Air Force Base (AFB), Alaska, assigned (going up through the chain of command) to Alaskan Air Command (AAC), Alaskan Command (ALCOM), United States Pacific Air Forces (USPACAF), United States Pacific Command (USPACOM). Both Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 "Fulcrum" fighter jets and the Antonov An-225 Mriya "Cossak", the large heavy support transport aircraft, refueled at Elmendorf AFB and continued on their journey to Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada.


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Hi res

 

[virtueixi]

Wow thats an awesome pic. What altitude are they flying at and why do they have to fly so high???

 

[acid45]

cool pic

 

[McGyver]

Originally posted by: virtueixi
Wow thats an awesome pic. What altitude are they flying at and why do they have to fly so high???

if i tell u, i have to kill u.

dude, it's classified.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Originally posted by: virtueixi
Wow thats an awesome pic. What altitude are they flying at and why do they have to fly so high???

They don't HAVE to fly high, modern fighters can be flown scraping the earth. For long trips they'll fly pretty high up in their envelope for the same reason all other planes do it: fuel economy.

 

[LordMorpheus]

Good pic. It is now one of my wallpapers.

 

[musha shugyo]

Originally posted by: virtueixi
Wow thats an awesome pic. What altitude are they flying at and why do they have to fly so high???

Service ceiling for an F-15C is 65,000ft. So, I'm guessing no higher than that.

 

[SonnyDaze]

Nice pic.

 

[slatr]

TY for the new wallpaper.

 

[Aharami]

wait...is this a mock dogfight, or did the F-15 really shoot down those two migs?

 

[virtueixi]

Originally posted by: musha shugyo

Originally posted by: virtueixi
Wow thats an awesome pic. What altitude are they flying at and why do they have to fly so high???

Service ceiling for an F-15C is 65,000ft. So, I'm guessing no higher than that.

wow, thx

 

[slatr]

Originally posted by: Aharami
wait...is this a mock dogfight, or did the F-15 really shoot down those two migs?

They were just being escorted enroute to a Canadian airshow.

 

[slag]

those contrails aren't missiles. Those are the F15's intercepting....

 

[biggestmuff]

Originally posted by: musha shugyo

Originally posted by: virtueixi
Wow thats an awesome pic. What altitude are they flying at and why do they have to fly so high???

Service ceiling for an F-15C is 65,000ft. So, I'm guessing no higher than that.

And the contrails indicate an altitude higher than around FL300. So, between FL300 and FL650.

 

[jtvang125]

That's pretty sweet. I could only get up to 45,000ft in the F-15 in Lock On before my air speed gets too low and can't stay level anymore.

 

[locutus12]

Originally posted by: McGyver

Originally posted by: virtueixi
Wow thats an awesome pic. What altitude are they flying at and why do they have to fly so high???

dude, it's classified.

There altitude isnt classified, nor would there be a reason for it to be. the flight paths may well have been classified but would no longer be.

Max speed:

* Low altitude: Mach 1.2 (900 mph, 1,450 km/h)
* High altitude: Mach 2.5 (1,650 mph, 2,655 km/h)

Ferry range: 3,000 nm (3,500 mi, 5,600 km) with external fuel and conformal fuel tanks
Maximum Altitude: 65,000 ft (20,000 m)
Rate of climb: >50,000 ft/min (255 m/s)
Wing loading: 73.1 lb/ft² (358 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 1.12 (-220), 1.30 (-229)

from the picture based on the cloud cover below and the thin upper atmosphere they look to be between 50 and 60 thousand feet up.

 

[Specop 007]

Originally posted by: Aharami
wait...is this a mock dogfight, or did the F-15 really shoot down those two migs?

Just pilots doin what pilots do best when cut loose on thier own.

They play.

 

[dennilfloss]

Looks like there a dark spherical object flying/hovering nearby. In the pic, look 'below' the lower F-15 trail. Balloon?

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/5282/dfst9005759filteredfv7.jpg

 

[Rudee]

Doesn't look like they "intercepted" anything. The russian jets were attending an airshow in Canada and the F-15's just came by for a look. No biggie.

 

[Specop 007]

Originally posted by: Rudee
Doesn't look like they "intercepted" anything. The russian jets were attending an airshow in Canada and the F-15's just came by for a look. No biggie.

Ok, lets use cute little kid terms.

"F-15's flying closer to Migs"

Better?

 

[Old Hippie]

It's just a "Hello" to the visitors.
Nice pics. :thumbsup:

 

[brandonb]

So did Tom Cruise give the Mig guy "the bird"?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I hear the homeworld 2 lady saying "Interceptor complete."

 

[theknight571]

The fighters are cool... but that's one huge transport.

 

[Hyperlite]

Nice pic!