The video above is a truly heart pounding account of the dangers of being a fighter pilot.  This video was taken during the first Gulf War back in 1991.  These F 16′s were on a mission to take out nuclear research and rocket productions facilities North of Baghdad.  On their mission, the pilots were engaged with surface-to-air missiles (SAM) and anti aircraft artillery by Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard.

At the 3:00 minute mark on the video you can hear the beeps and whistles of the pilots being locked in on by the SAM missiles.  Call Sign 3 in the video is Maj. ET Tullia who had to dodge six of these missiles.  A pilot can never be fully trained for this experience, really only understanding the process from book learning.  To maneuver away from SAM missiles, a pilot has to pull an orthogonal flight path 4 seconds prior to a missiles impact.  It is incredibly difficult to see and time the missiles path, but in Maj Tullia’s case he was able to pull it off.

To read a full account of this incident go to http://www.lucky-devils.net/afm.html and scroll down to Day Three.

Via: Business Insider