Watch the moment an F-16 saves an unconscious pilot from hurtling to his death
People have been amazed by footage released by the National Guard in America of a fighter jet taking over from a pilot who had passed out from G-forces.
Almost 300,000 have viewed the clip released by the Arizona Air National Guard yesterday of a training flight diving steeply as an unresponsive student pilot loses control.
The recently declassified Air Force footage shows what happened after the trainee pilot had been put through more than 8Gs of force from a tight manoeuvre, making him lose consciousness.
A frantic instructor can be heard calling "2 recover!" three times as the plane reaches a speed of 613 knots, that is 1,135 kms/hr, on its way to the ground. It should be noted that in the four seconds that the instructor shouts three times for the pilot to recover, the plane has dropped from a height of 12,320 feet to 8,760 feet.
Thankfully for the pilot, the aircraft takes over as it plunges towards the Earth - now at a speed of 652 knots (1,207 kms/hr) - and manages to level out, saving the life of the pilot who by now has woken up and takes over.
Another 10 seconds and the pilot would have been dead.
According to Aviation Week, it is the fourth time the aircraft's Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto-GCAS) has saved a pilot since it was installed in 2014.
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