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On a typical day in the middle of May 2019, California Highway Patrol Officer
Chris Bol was driving on his usual route on the hunt for speeding Californians.
Used to his daily routine, Officer Bol perfectly knew the ins and outs of his SUV's radar system.
Thus, when the onboard system went off despite not having any other car in sight,
the patrolman decided to get out of his vehicle.
Willing to find the source of the radar gun's activity, Bol looked left and right
at the desert stretch surrounding the highway. Suddenly a powerful noise hummed from above,
and it became clear that there was something cruising at a fast speed.
In fact, what Bol's radar gun kept alerting him of wasn't on the road at all,
but up in the sky: an F-16 Fighting Falcon was flying right overhead, streaking low
and fast past the lonely patch of the desert winter road. And it was all caught on camera.
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Look Up, Officer!
As California Highway Patrol Officer Chris Bol noticed an aircraft flying towards his car while
on patrol in May of 2019, he quickly managed to turn his phone on and record the F-15 flying by.
Shortly after, footage of the incident was shared by the social media account of the
California Highway Patrol-Bishop station, with credit to Officer Bol and the title: [QUOTE]
“When the radar in your patrol car is going crazy but you don't see any cars on the road, look up!”
The recording quickly went viral,
and the incredible images garnered over a hundred thousand views in just a few days.
The video shows a California Highway Patrol Ford Explorer SUV
parked on a stretch of highway in a relatively flat basin with mountains to the west and east
in the desert suburb of Bishop, California.
As strong winds pound on the camera microphone, an F-16 fighter jet
comes up to the vehicle from behind, then flies ahead and banks to follow the road,
fading within seconds from the camera's sight and veering off to either the west or east.
According to the Highway Patrol officer,
he was puzzled when he noticed the radar was signaling speeding from an incoming vehicle.
Still, all doubts were solved once the jet came into view.
Fighting Falcon
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Phantom, officially introduced on August 17,
1978, is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft.
Originally designed by General Electric as an air
superiority day fighter for the United States effort,
the project evolved into one of the world's most successful all-weather multirole aircraft.
Amongst the aircraft's many features are a bubble canopy for improved visibility, the first use of
a fly-by-wire control system, a control stick to control the maneuvering of the aircraft,
and an internally installed M61 Vulcan cannon and 11 more locations for weapon mounting.
While the F-16's official nickname is Fighting Falcon,
pilots and crews who have flown this aircraft often refer to it as Viper due to
its resemblance to both a viper snake and to the Battlestar Galactica Colonial Viper starfighter.
In addition to its active duty in the United States Air Force, other Air Forces around the
globe, and Air Force Reserve Command and Air National Guard units, the Fighting Falcon is
also used by the Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team and even the Navy.
According to Lockheed Martin, the F-16 Fighting Falcon's capabilities allow
for better partnerships with Allies, stating that the aircraft: [QUOTE] "Has been proving
its effectiveness for decades and continues to remain the best value among 4th generation jets
for its capabilities and affordable lifecycle costs."
In over 40 years of service in Allied missions, more than 4,600 Fighting Falcons have flown over
13 million sorties and counting, amassing an estimated 19.5 million flight hours.
Operators both past and present include Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Israel, Egypt, Turkey,
Thailand, Polan, Romania, and many others.
An Essential Aircraft
The F-16 has participated in numerous armed conflicts,
the majority of them in the Middle East.
The first use in combat of the iconic aircraft occurred during Operation Desert Storm in 1991,
where both the Air Force Reserve and the Air National Guard flew the aircraft in
a United States-led coalition of dozens of countries against Iraq
in response to the country’s invasion and subsequent annexation of Kuwait.
In addition, two unarmed Fighting Falcons were launched to attempt to ram the United Airlines
Flight 93 that was trying to reach Washington, DC on September 11, 2001. However, Flight 93 was
brought down by the passengers before the F-16s and the jets were retasked to patrol the local
airspace, later escorting Air Force 1 back to Washington and guarding President George W. Bush.
After that, the Fighting Falcon became a staple aircraft in the Global War on terrorism.
While initial rumors marked the cease of use of the F-16 in the mid-2020s, US Air Force
officials recently announced that the branch will continue to operate the jet for two more decades,
and a developing project called the F-16 Service Life Extension Program
will keep the iconic jet flying until nearly 2050.
The program, which combines a dozen structural modifications into one repeatable package,
will extend the lifetime of selected aircraft to 12,000 flying hours.
Deliberate Or Coincidence?
Although the Fighting Falcon can fly at speeds greater than twice the speed of sound,
it is unlikely that the fighter in the video taken in May of 2019 was cruising that fast.
According to Business Insider, low-altitude flybys occur regularly
in the area where the video was taken, and these incidents are often picked up by radar.
Officer Bol's radar registered up to 250 miles per hour at one point, and according to the officer,
several F-16s flew past his parked spot repeatedly while he was out on the deserted road.
In a subsequent interview, another California Highway Patrol officer at the Bishop station
stated that his radar system once recorded over 300 miles per hour.
Still, because of the camera's position, either Bol was a lucky man to witness the maneuver
on the otherwise empty road, or this wasn't the jet's first pass.
Based on how low the aircraft flew over officer Bol's car, it is said that Bol most likely knew
where to aim the lens to catch the fighter flying by his Ford Explorer, which also
suggests that the pilot knew exactly what they were doing as they looped around for a low flyby.
Whether the pilot was hoping to make the officer's day or scare him,
it's hard to tell from the footage alone.
Also, because of the video's quality, the tail code on the F-16 is unreadable,
making it impossible to correctly determine where it is from.
According to Popular Mechanics, the most likely options are either the Arizona National Guard
or the Hill Air Force Base in Utah due to Bishop's location.
Currently, Hill Air Force Base's two resident F-16 fighter wings are in the transitioning process
to replace them with the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter. However, the base continues to be a
hub for Fighting Falcon upgrades and repair work, namely the F-16 Service Life Extension Program.
Whether it was fate, coincidence, or done on purpose, Officer Bol’s recording of the
mighty F-16 Fighting Falcon flying low and fast was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Thank you for watching our video! Please let us know your thoughts about Officer
Bol’s recording of an Air Force F-15 in the comment section below. And for
more incredible and unlikely occurrences caught on camera, consider subscribing
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