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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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time
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011689
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01168900.049
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1990-09-17
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NATION, Page 21Knife Fighting in the Air
Did the U.S. pilots really act in self-defense last week? Were
they justified in firing the first shots? No question about it,
say former Navy pilots and other experts familiar with the F-14
Tomcat. "I know it sounds strange to the layman to say, `He pointed
his nose at me five times so I shot him,' " conceded a jet-fighter
technician. "But it makes sense in aerial combat. Furthermore, if
some guy aims a gun at you in a dark alley, you don't ask him
whether it's loaded."
Former fighter pilot Steve Corris, now a California lawyer,
considers the Libyan pilots "idiots" for repeatedly facing the
Tomcats head-on, since "that is an indication of hostile
intention." Equally unfriendly was the Libyan pursuit of the U.S.
jets at varying altitudes. Modern combat, Corris notes, "isn't like
old-fashioned dogfighting." The distances are much greater, and the
targets may be seen only on radar. "Everything happens very fast."
Pilots called the Mediterranean incident a "knife fight" because
the jets clashed at unusually close quarters.
Yet, some of the old tactics remain valid. "Pilots still like
to have the sun at their back," explains Kurt Schroeder, the chief
test pilot of Grumman Corp., which makes the Tomcat. "The speeds
and altitudes, turning radius and weapons have changed
dramatically, but the basic maneuvers are still very similar to
World War I." So too is a pilot's need for fast thinking. "Aviation
by its very nature frequently requires very quick assessments,
judgments and actions," says Schroeder. "And the penalty for making
the wrong decision is severe."