Talk:Scott O'Grady

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[edit] Phrasing

I recently reverted the changes made to this article by User:NEMT. My basic disagreement is rather minor overall, however I think changing the phrase, "he was shot down in his F-16 by Bosnian Serb forces" to "ejecting from his F-16 amidst anti-aircraft fire from Bosnian Serb forces" [1] detracts from what actually happened. This new statements makes it seem like the anti-aircraft fire didn't cause the F-16 to be shot down, while the CNN article indicates that it did. And while he did eject from his F16 I don't really think that is what gained him prominence, so much as his story of survival over the following days. I've reverted this once already, and NEMT has changed it back, so I'm looking for some consensus on this issue so that this article can remain in the neutral point of view and true to the facts. Thanks -- malo (tlk) (cntrbtns) 05:39, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

The current phrasing of the opening sentence follows the structure of Scott O'Grady (not his F-16) being shot down. The phrase "shot down" implies he went down with his plane and survived a crash, something which would certainly be noteworthy and would be a likely assumption to uninformed readers, considering the encyclopedic nature of Wikipedia. Additionally, whether or not O'Grady ejected before or after his plane became critically damaged is not a matter of fact, however, his experience and mistakes casually being used as examples of what not to do in a dangerous situation for new military aviators, most notably US Marine pilots, suggests he may not have followed proper ejection protocol (most notably his elevation was far too high). In any event, my main gripe with the wording is mentioning O'Grady being "shot down," without any mentioned of his ejecting. NEMT 06:47, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Shot Down" Is Correct

O'Grady was in fact shot down by Serb action. That's common aviation phraseology, whether the pilot went down with the plane or not. Specifically, his F-16 was destroyed by a Russian-built SA-6 missile.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983055,00.html

Incidentally, O'Grady was involved in "The Great Galeb Shoot" in 1994 when members of his squadron downed four Serbian "Galeb" jets. Other F-16 pilots have noted that when he was shot down, O'Grady's flight was "low on top" of the undercast, leaving too little time to avoid the SAM that popped up thru the deck. Naval aviators in the area say that the site was known operational but intelligence reports failed to reach the pilots assigned that sector. Back-channel "intel" had it that the SA-6 battery was "blasted on slivovitz" for three days thereafter, celebrating the kill!—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.2.134.240 (talk • contribs) 05:57, 22 October 2006.