This is not covered by warranty.
Royal Danish Air Force personnel love to film their F-16s using air-to-air and air-to-surface armament. A GoPro screenshot of a RDAF pilot firing an AIM-9 Sidewinder produced one of the coolest selfie ever taken from a fighter jet.
But this love for “action footages” can have some side effects especially if the camera is positioned a bit too close to the ground target of an Mk-84 2,000-lb bomb.
Watch what happens about the 02:30 mark:
Ok, it’s not a direct hit, as the camera is only capsized by the shock wave of the bomb. Still, shall we consider it a sort-of Blue-on-Blue incident?
By the way, the footage is interesting as it shows M61 20mm gun strafing runs as well as Mk-82 500-lb bomb drops on the range.
H/T Matthew Markezin-Press for the heads-up
Thanks to the F-16′s bubble canopy, which lacks front frames, “Viper” pilots can take the most stunning selfies among fighter jocks.
Here’s another epic self-portrait. It was taken by a Royal Norwegian Air Force pilot flying with the 332 Skv during an Exercise Cold Response 2014′s mission over Tromso fjord.
You probably remember the famous “selfie” taken by a Danish pilot while firing an AIM-9 Sidewinder.
Image credit: U.S. Air Force
The Lockheed Martin F-16 is equipped with a large single-piece bubble canopy which features no forward bow frame. The pilot sits on an elevated 30° inclined ejection seat (to improve G tolerance) that, combined with the bubble canopy, provide what is by far considered the best 360° visibility of any combat plane in the world.
The perfect plane for cool “selfies”.
By the way, GoPro cameras have taken this kind of photographs to a completely new level.
Top image credit: RNoAF
Just in case you thought the photo was a fake.
After publishing the famous selfie of the F-16 pilot firing an AIM-9L Sidewinder missile, the Royal Danish Air Force has posted the entire GoPro video of the launch.
As if the above footage was not enough, the RFAF has published some more videos showing the behind the scenes of the live firing activity conducted by the Danish F-16s with the heat-seeking AIM-9.
Here’s from inside the cockpit, from a different point of view (on a different sortie):
This is the ultimate “selfie”: taken from the cockpit of an F-16 launching a Sidewinder missile.
Update: here’s the video of the flight during which the selfie was taken.
Self-portrait photographs (nowadays known as “selfies“) have always been a must among fighter jocks and you can find thousands taken by military pilots in the most unusal flight conditions.
However, selfies taken while launching missiles are much more rare just because firing activities involving the launch of an air-to-air missile don’t take place too often.
Kudos to the Royal Danish Air Force for taking this really cool image.
By the way, the pilot depicted in the image wears a JHMCS (Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System) a multi-role system that enhances pilot situational awareness and provides head-out control of aircraft targeting systems and sensors.
The helmet can be used in an air-to-air role, combined with the AIM-9X missile, as High-Off-BoreSight (HOBS) system, that enables pilots to cue onboard weapons against enemy aircraft merely by pointing their heads at the targets to guide the weapons.
In this case the missile launched by the Danish F-16 is an AIM-9L/M.
Image credit: RDAF
The Royal Danish Air Force operates a fleet of 14 EH-101 Merlin (military version of the AgustaWestland AW.101) helicopters, for Search And Rescue and transport tasks.
Even if it may have just been a joke, according to the Flyvevåbnet Facebook page, few days ago, one of them made an impressive display for a very unique reason: after receiving several inquiries by Danish people concerned by the fact that December darkness could negatively affect everyday life the RDAF decided to try to fight this scourge, bringing a little extra light by means of a Merlin releasing flares.
Flares are countermeasures carried by combat planes and helicopters in special dispencers which are released to mislead IR (infra-red) guided surface-to-air or air-to-air missile’s seekers.
Image credit: RDAF
