The US Air Force colonel rescued from Iran in April revealed Sunday that the “most terrifying moment” of surviving nearly two days on enemy lines was plummeting to earth with a damaged parachute after his F-15E Strike Eagle was shot down.
The weapons systems officer — known only by the mission call sign Dude 44 Bravo — spoke publicly for the first time in an interview with CBS “60 Minutes” host Norah O’Donnell for the show’s 59th season premiere Sunday evening.
“My parachute was damaged in the initial attack. At one point, when I looked up and saw no parachute, that was the most was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen,” the heroic weapons officer told O’Donnell.
Bravo said that he estimates he was falling to the ground at somewhere between 70 and 100 miles per hour after his crewmate and pilot, Alpha, ejected them from the $30 million jet.
The plane shot down by an Iranian with a shoulder-fired missile crashed in the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province in the southwestern part of Iran near Iraq.
“I wasn’t focused on the speed at which I was falling. I was instead focused on trying to correct the problems that were in front of me. And doing anything I could to unfurl or pull pieces of the parachute loose,” Bravo said.
“I will be thankful to my dying day for my pilot and crewmate Alpha for saving our lives and ejecting us.”
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