Air Force pilot fatally injured in crash on Nevada range
A U.S. Air Force pilot has died of injuries suffered in an aircraft crash at a training range about 100 miles northwest of Nellis Air Force Base in southern Nevada, base officials said.
A brief statement released Sept. 8 by Nellis officials said the crash that killed Lt. Col. Eric Schultz occurred during a training flight Tuesday evening at the Nevada Test and Training Range.
The statement didn’t provide a hometown or age for Schultz or details on the crash, but it said the aircraft was assigned to the Air Force Materiel Command.
The Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Md., reported that Schultz was a 1991 graduate of Annapolis (Maryland) high school and his parents, Linda and Larry Schultz, live in Annapolis.
The Materiel Command’s website says it conducts researches and tests weapons systems.
The Las Vegas Review Journal reported that a 99th Air Base Wing spokeswoman, Maj. Christina Sukach, said the type of aircraft is classified. AP
McCain to North Korea: Aggression will lead to ‘extinction’
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., says the U.S. needs to step up actions against North Korea and send a message to leader Kim Jong Un that aggressive acts will lead to his country’s destruction.
The Senate Armed Services chairman spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union.” McCain says Kim needs to know that “if he acts in an aggressive fashion, the price will be extinction.”
The Arizona senator says the U.S. should provide missile defense in South Korea and continue working with China “to put the brakes on Kim Jong Un” and his efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
McCain stressed a need to strengthen ties with allies Japan and South Korea. AP
Iran says it warned off U.S. ship, Navy denies it
Iran says it warned off a U.S. Navy warship during a rescue of a boat in the Gulf of Oman, while American officials say there was no direct contact.
The U.S. Navy said Sept. 10 the incident happened Sept. 6 and involved a small vessel some 75 nautical miles from the USS Tempest, a coastal patrol boat. The Navy says another boat much closer offered assistance, with that vessel communicating with Iranian naval forces.
Iran offered a different version of the incident. Press TV, the English-language arm of its state broadcaster, said Sunday that the Iranian navy “warned off an American warship” while rescuing the stranded dhow, a traditional ship.
The U.S. and Iran routinely have tense encounters in the Persian Gulf. AP
SpaceX launches Air Force’s super-secret minishuttle
SpaceX launched the Air Force’s super-secret space shuttle Sept. 7, a technology tester capable of spending years in orbit.
The unmanned Falcon rocket blasted off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, as schools and businesses boarded up for Hurricane Irma.
It’s the fifth flight for one of these crewless minishuttles, known as the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle.
The two Air Force space planes have already logged a combined 5 1/2 years in orbit. But officials won’t say what the spacecraft are doing up there. The last mission lasted almost two years and ended with a May touchdown at the runway formerly used by NASA’s space shuttles. The first one launched in 2010.
As has become customary, SpaceX landed its leftover booster back at Cape Canaveral for eventual reuse.
This was the first time SpaceX has provided a lift for the experimental minishuttle. The previous missions relied on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rockets. Air Force officials said they want to use a variety of rockets for the X-37B program, to launch quickly if warranted.
The Boeing-built minishuttle is 29 feet long, with a 14-foot wingspan. By comparison, NASA’s retired space shuttles were 122 feet long, with a 78-foot wingspan.
SpaceX stopped providing details about the X-37B’s climb to orbit, a few minutes after liftoff at the Air Force’s request. The booster’s return to SpaceX’s landing zone at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, however, was broadcast live.
“The Falcon has safely landed,” a SpaceX launch controller announced. Cheers erupted at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif.
It was SpaceX’s 16th successful return of a first-stage booster. Booster rockets are normally discarded at sea. AP