A U.S. airman who was shot down over Iran while manning an F-15 fighter jet in the spring recounted the moment he free-fell to the ground over enemy territory and the subsequent rescue mission that saved him for the first time on Sunday.
While speaking with Norah O’Donnell of 60 Minutes, the pilot, referred to as “Bravo,” recounted how his parachute was damaged when a shoulder-fired missile hit the jet he was operating. He was part of a two-man crew with the mission call sign “Dude 44”. The weapons systems officer survived for nearly two days with a broken back, arm, and shoulder before U.S. special forces rescued him. His partner, referred to as “Alpha”, had already been rescued and is back flying for the Air Force.
“I wasn’t focused on the speed at which I was falling,” Bravo said while recounting the moment. “I was instead focused on trying to correct the problems that were in front of me, and doing anything I could to unfurl or pull pieces of the parachute loose.” He said that based on the injuries he suffered, professionals said he likely hit the ground “going somewhere between 70 and 100 miles per hour.”
“I believe that it’s a testament to God’s provision in my life to bring me through that moment in a way that didn’t prevent injuries,” he said, “but prevented any catastrophic injuries that would have affected my ability to survive.”
“You want to get to the high ground, isolate the threat below you, so you can see and observe anybody that’s coming to get you,” Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said about Bravo’s decision to climb a nearby ridgeline after surviving the fall. Iranian forces got within a few hundred meters of Bravo before he was rescued, and Caine said, “There was clear intent out of the Iranian ground force to come find [him].”
HOW THE CIA RAN A DECEPTION CAMPAIGN IN IRAN TO EXTRACT DOWNED F-15 CREW MEMBER
War Secretary Pete Hegseth said that “you always knew” an incident like this was possible, but that “whether they’re alive or not, we’re going to go get them.”
The CIA reportedly ran a deception campaign to move Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps forces away from Bravo just as they were closing in on him. President Donald Trump said the special forces “were brilliant, strong, decisive, and as cool as anyone can be” during the rescue.
