Two Louisiana Air National Guard F-15 pilots from the 159th fighter Wing responded to an alert last week, intercepting a small civilian aircraft that turned out to be pilotless—because, according to various news reports—pilot Marcus Schrenker had bailed out in an attempt to fake his own death. Maj. Matt Rippen and Capt. Josh Fogle were on alert at their base in Belle Chasse when their unit received a task to find an airplane that the FAA said had made a distress call. The two F-15 pilots picked up the airplane as it headed toward the Gulf of Mexico and saw that there was no pilot. They shadowed it until it crashed and directed local authorities to the crash site. (For more on Schrenker, read this Associated Press report) (Louisiana Guard report by Capt. Beverly Couto)
NATO Scrambles Fighter in Newest Response to Russian Drones
Sept. 16, 2025
NATO scrambled its first fighter Sept. 13 under its new plan to bolster its defenses against Russian air incursions that was put into place after an array of Russian drones flew into Polish airspace last week, the officials from the alliance’s military command said.
