How the Seal Team evaded Pakistani air force on the night of the Osama bin Laden raid

The combat-hardened and supremely skilful pilot of one of the Chinooks involved in the May 2011 raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, has explained how a unique training programme run by the US Marines helped him save the helicopter and the Seals on board from being shot out of the sky by a Pakistan air force F-16. A helicopter is not the ideal platform to engage in an air-to-air dogfight with a hostile fighter jet. It has neither the weapons on board nor the speed to take out an F-16. So it was all down to brilliant evasion techniques and seat-of-the-pants flying that led to the Chinook arriving back in Afghanistan safely after the raid that killed Bin Laden. Retired US Army Chief Warrant Officer Douglas Englen, flying that night with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, an elite unit, saw the F-16 locking on to his helicopter prior to launching a missile that would have destroyed his aircraft, killing everyone on board, and put into practice what he had learned during the US Marine Corps's weapons and tactics course. He managed to confuse the F-16 pilot who never launched a missile. It could have been a devastating end to what had been a brilliantly successful raid. One Black Hawk helicopter had already been lost when it came down outside the compound and that was when Doug Englen and his crew flew in to help bring the Seal Team Six members away from the raid site, as well as Osama bin Laden's body and bags of intelligence material. Speaking to the War Zone, a US defence website, Englen said the training he had received saved the day. By all accounts Chief Warrant Officer Englen was one of the most remarkable pilots ever to fly on special forces operations. When the planning began for the Bin Laden raid, he was one of the few people to be brought in on the secret mission to provide his unique experience. Everyone on the Seal team wanted him involved. What a guy!