Hide, find water: U.S. ex-pilot details how to survive being shot down

As American forces race against time and Iran’s military to locate a missing fighter jet crew reportedly shot down Friday, a retired Air Force general told AFP what it takes to hide and survive if parachuted into enemy territory.

“You’re like, ‘Oh my God, I was in a fighter jet two minutes ago, flying 500 miles an hour, and a missile just exploded, literally 15 feet from your head,’” said retired brigadier general Houston Cantwell, who is now at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

That said, his or her training -- known as search, evasion, resistance and escape (SERE) -- would likely kick in before parachuting to the ground.

• 2 U.S. aircraft shot down as war in Iran escalates. At least 1 crew member is missing

“The best intelligence you’re going to get is as you’re floating to the ground,” Cantwell said in a telephone interview. “Your best view of where you may want to go or where you may want to avoid is while you’re coming down in your parachute.”

“Look around, because once you’re on the ground, you can’t see very far.”

Cantwell logged 400 hours of combat flight experience, including missions over Iraq and Afghanistan, and he trained at length for hard parachute landings.

Hitting the ground -- even with a parachute -- risks foot, ankle, and leg injuries, the former airman explained.

“There are many stories of survivors from Vietnam that had severe injuries -- compound fractures -- just from the ejection,” he said.

Upon landing, “take an inventory of yourself to figure out, what condition am I in? Can I even move? Am I even mobile?”

Flight crew then start an assessment -- figuring out where they are, whether it is behind enemy lines, where they can hide, and how they can communicate.

“Try to avoid enemy capture, as long as you can,” Cantwell said. “And if I were in a desert environment, I’d want to try to find some water.”

Simultaneously, Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) teams -- highly-trained soldiers and pilots already on alert -- would be activated.

“It gives you tremendous peace of mind, knowing that you know they’re going to do everything they can to come get you,” Cantwell said. “But at the same time they’re not going to come on a suicide mission.”

That’s where the missing crewmember can, potentially, increase the odds of a safe rescue.

On the ground, “my priority would be, first of all, concealment, because I don’t want to be captured,” he said. “I want to try to get to a location where I can get extracted.”

In a city, that may be a rooftop. In a rural setting, a field where helicopters can land. Movement is best at night, he said.

American pilots do have a small kit in their ejection chair or on their flight suit to assist them.

“That’s going to be some basic sustenance, water (and) some survival equipment,” he said. “It’s going to have some communication equipment, radio, all these types of things to be able to try to get to get picked up as quickly as possible.”

Cantwell said that when he flew an F-16 jet, he also carried a pistol.

On Friday, an F-15E Strike Eagle crashed in southwestern Iran, according to media reports, with the pilot rescued by US special forces. The fate of the weapons operator -- who sits behind the pilot during flight -- remains unknown.