First Ukrainian F-16 Pilot Killed During Combat Mission

As reported during our livestream episode two days ago, Ukraine's Air Force used F-16s as part of its defense against Russia's mass missile and drone attack on August 26, the first operational involvement of that aircraft in the war. Subsequent to that livesteam on August 28, we learned that one of the F-16s involved in the mission to stop the Russian weapons from hitting Ukrainian targets crashed. The pilot was Lt. Col. Olek-siy Mes, callsign “Moonfish.”

And as an audiobook here:

[gammaraygem]

A Dutch F16 pilot wrote in a comment somewhere that The Netherlands was the first European country to get the F16 (and subsequently "assembled" those that went to other Nato countries) and that such accidents happened as well in Netherlands in the beginning. And that was with untruncated training in a non combat zone. So we may expect more accidents, and unfortunately, it is "normal".

[anselmdanker]

Thank you for covering this. AIM 9M used interesting.
Rest in peace Moonfish .
Hope it was not blue on blue .

[WilliamBrothers]

God bless his soul. Answering a call at such a young age that demands so much. Praying this conflict resolves and ends soon

[BNuts]

Slow moving, low altitude target intercept is terrifying

[bobp]

Hitting the “Like” button on this felt strange. Loved the content (as always, Mooch) but hated the tragic news. Slava Ukraine!

[AlanCheak]

RIP Moonfish from a fellow fighter pilot, Biff.

[Hathur]

More recent news update suggesting a possible friendly fire incident: The F-16 was observed to explode mid air, suggesting either friendly fire or weapons detonation... since Russia hasn't taken credit, It is basically 100% certain it wasn't a Russian kill. Ukrainian air force commander was also fired after the loss, providing even more evidence for friendly fire incident (I doubt the commander gets fired for a technical malfunction). Something likely went wrong with IFF / communications and they brought down their own pilot. Utterly tragic.

[Genjuanpa]

Fighters mixing among cruise missiles and land AA switched to ON, not a good idea

[Utahdropout]

Sad. But definitely puts a pin in the fact that these machine are complex and require a high level of training and experience.

[duncanstewart]

New fan, 'Moonfish' was reportedly popular and a leader on the Falcon coalition. Oleksii M, who has been promoted to Command Colonel, posthumously today. A hero. Or 'Heroyam' defender. Some MiG frames from India may fill a gap. RIP

[XNSever]

Minor correction: i believe Juice was killed in an Albatross, not a a Mig29

[pliesj]

They are running the intercepts at night, at low-level, and in unfamiliar jets. I'm guessing CFIT.

[CodeKujo]

Migs and F16 have inverted artificial horizon, right? That's got to be a hell of a transition.

[DonkeyEvo]

Wasn't hit by "Enemy" fire.. key word there.. no mention of friendly fire...

[andrewhamop]

Very unfortunate circumstances with this crash. I am curious as to what happened, but I am more sad for the Ukrainians. I hate war, but I also hate seeing good pilots lose their lives. Slava Moonfish, and Slava Ukraine. o7

Thanks for your coverage of this difficult topic Ward.

[javierfuente]

I suppose we should expect some toxic commentary on a topic like this; I hope Mr Carroll will keep us updated as information seeps out.

[davidlindburg]

A loss they could ill-afford, a senior and experienced pilot, very sad.

[rlsmith]

That is a tough environment for an aggressive low time in type pilot to get hours in. We always hate to lose a pilot no matter what.

[timu]

Rest in peace, Moonfish. Slava Ukraini.

[docraineyIII]

Thank you Ward. What sad news. Your brother, Doc Rainey, HM3/USN/Ret., Medivac Doc w/ 1st MAW, Phu Bai, Quang Tri No. I Corps