"Reports said he liked to fly low to the ground and ascend rapidly..." this is every A-10 pilot ever, you've got straight wings, that's what they're designed for. 😆
Dad = ASPD/DPD Mom= NPD/BPD The parents got along fine but, the mother was controlling/manipulative to at least the son - as a cathartic outlet of course.
is actually quite common...like my my mother and father 4 example (mom devout and libertarian, dad atheist and authoritarian)...it's in crushing majority of the cases the authoritarian figure who can be blamed the most, yet close ones would never acknowledge this, since these folks also have cult of personality effect and strong denialism syndrome)...
Sounds like a suicide to me. He ditched the ordnance in a remote location in order to: 1. Not risk unexploded ordnance at the mishap investigation scene, or: 2. To get better range out of his fuel. He then smashed into a peak is his blaze of glory. He also got his 15 minutes of fame.
"Glory"... the guy was a licensed fighter pilot in the Air Force in command of a Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II in 1997, years before 9-11, and would have been experienced and ready for some of the most seasoned campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan against Saddam, the Taliban, Al'quaeda and Isis before his 35th birthday. He would have become an instructor for young pilots before we ever left Afghanistan and could have retired this year. Living his life was the glory given to him. I don't believe god punishes all suicides. I've always found that hard to believe... but when you see something like this, done by someone given a life like this, I sure do fear the blaze of his own making, is far from a place of glory for him today... I can only hope, that the truth of eternity, is a bit more complex than what we're given. Eternity is a long time. Something has to give right? Come on Captain... a seat made for one, and you made it all about you.
May have armed and dropped the bombs just to see what it was like (if he had not done live fire exercises yet) and then at that pointed decided he had screwed himself going AWOL and dropping bombs that death was the better option.
@@Krystalmyth "years before 9-11, and would have been experienced and ready for some of the most seasoned campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan against Saddam, the Taliban, Al'quaeda and Isis before his 35th birthday" Ok, but its not like he actually knew any of that was going to happen, so why mention it?
"It was claimed that he rented - and possibly watched - The Bridges of Madison County before going rogue." To date, easily the funniest line I have heard in any Dark Docs/Dark Skies episode. Yeah, we've all been there, brother.
If watching that movie caused someone to auger in on purpose than the fact that I've never seen it means I have made at least one good decision in my life.
It's about a married woman in Iowa set in the 50s. Her hubby and kid goes off somewhere for a few days. Then this photographer shows up in town to photograph old covered bridges. The photographer and woman hookup and she falls for him madly, but he has to leave and she chooses to stay home as her hubby and kid will return shortly.
Poor guy, pressured by his mom, proposal rejected, then girlfriend left him. At least he get to see those beautiful mountain before he died, RIP Captain
UA-cam doesn't show downthumbs, but I gave you one. Captain Button was a crook, he stole a multimillion dollar airplane and caused all kinds of grief for family, friends, and much of the nation. Suicide is a crime against Man and a sin against God.
@@uggligr this is what so funny about the world we living in, if we pity a person(a crook as per you said) immediately we're marked as a crook too, or worse we marked as we support that crook's act. I pity Capt Button here because of his personal issues with families, here you are "a downthumbs" for me because i pity a crook you said. Let just said another crook go on gunning bunch of innocents in a shopping mall, because he suffered serious depression from his family and co-workers. Here i am again pity him because of his depression, is that mean i support his gunning on innocents?
At about 4:15 you mentioned that the plane crashed at 13,300 Ft. above ground level, I think you ment to say above sea level. I don't believe it's possible to crash above ground level. Cheers, Billy in Canada
"Witnesses say that loud explosions were heard in northern Arizona, particularly in Telluride and Aspen." WRONG. Telluride and Aspen are NOT in northern Arizona, they're in Colorado.
He may have meant they were heard by witnesses in each of those places. From the northeast corner of Arizona, a nearly straight line can be drawn passing through Telluride and Aspen. Edit: Telluride and Aspen are relatively well known cities which would make for decent reference points. There isn't such a well known city along that route in Arizona so he probably intended "northern Arizona" to be a reference point not the home state of the aforementioned cities.
Lololololol that’s funny yup Um and about 700 miles into his 800 mile journey off course which would indicate he fired them 100 miles from his final destination , they didn’t possibly fall off the crashed aircraft to hidden crevices that the military and PJs couldn’t located DIRECTLY BELOW the crash site lol.
@jcllings agreed there has been recorded malfunctions of a-10 losing control over wing and tail ailerons mostly at higher speeds it is a 30 year aircraft despite being well maintained it still is over 30 years old it can have malfunctions
Seems odd that breaking away from “Flying in formation” and heading away from base wouldn’t trigger a pursuit either from the others in the flight, or initiated from an airbase he was heading towards e.g. Kirkland AFB in Albuquerque. Surprised they didn’t have wingtip to wingtip escort eventually at some point during his flight.
Aircraft do NOT crash ABOVE GROUND LEVEL - that is called "flying"... they crash AT ground level! I suspect the script should have read, "13,000 ft above SEA level" instead!
Its actually sea level as the ground level at any specific location can be above or even below sea level (death valley). By saying "13,000 ft above ground level" the actual elevation measured above ground level at a specific point (or base elevation) could have been considerably higher (for example Mt Everest base elevation is approx 4000 meters if you say at top of Everest you are 30000 feet above ground level it would be incorrect).
The thing that always tripped me up about this, there were 2 witnesses, interviewed a week apart from each other, lived in opposite sides of the US, never knew each other but yet they had a very similar story on what happened the day of the crash. Both said they saw the a10 flying low and zipping through the mountainside. Both said they saw another jet flying above the mountains seemingly trailing the a10. And both said they heard what sounded like afterburner and then a few seconds later they heard an explosion. It makes me think we sent an f16 to shoot down the a10. The afterburner sound has to be a rocket that was fired. I wouldn’t blame the Air Force tbh. A mentally unstable pilot with live munitions is insanely dangerous to genpop. I actually praise the Air Force if they shot the plane down
Yeah sure two different people across the country no, he released his ordinance and then flew it into the ground. My man was a patriot but bud demons and took his life
I lived in the Rocky's when this happened , it was big news there , where he crashed is a really remote area and fortunately he crashed well above the timberline ( no trees just alpine tundra ) so they found his plane relatively quickly considering the terrain but if he had crashed below timberline who knows when they would have found him. Edit : from what I recall they think he may have dropped his bombs in a alpine lake , there's alot of them up high and very remote and that could be why they've never been found.
@@TheGravitywerks ..... Yeah I lived in Silverthorne in Summit County, dont recall anything about the seals ( but memory could be hazy ) but wouldn't be surprised , still it would've been like finding the perpetual needle in a haystack .
My guard unit Hueys at Buckley AFB where involved in the search for Capt.Button,bombs where recoved they broke up into pieces and where not armed recovered after snow melt
I've got some Jehovah's Witness in my family, they are strange people. I would not want to be around them much. This guys mother had him all screwed up most likely. As for the girlfriend, she was probably the last straw.
Yes because of the shunning. Disfellowshipping is what they call it. Many people have committed suicide from it. When a person is Disfellowshipped all communication is cut off immediately. Tragic policy. His mother would follow the orders not to talk to him because he went into the military and left the religion (cult)
have you noticed the females no matter what age seem to be drawn to it because of the no weapons thing, they like the love and peace thing, but yet totally ignore the 7 times they claimed the world was going to end, and i know its used as a weapon in other countries to get populations to be unarmed, and how they had to expand how many people will be going into the space ship to make room for their new followers over the years, and how they allow a drunk guy who post things on the JW web site tells them how to live their life, it also tells them who they can marry, it takes over their life, it limits what they can do in life,
I worked at a company that was mainly jehovah's witness'. Once they found out i was not one of them, other workers would not have lunch at the same time, and i used to get a drive each day with a guy, until i told him i did not believe in any organized religion. They will also screw over anyone who is not a jehovah! Pathetic how some fictional belief is more important than love or life....
I was there when Button launched that day, I believe he was a victim of schizophrenia and was hallucinating, possibly hearing voices telling him to do things he thought were normal. This is fairly common and descends on some people in their 20s. I have been involved with young airmen experiencing these same odd behaviors.
To me what makes the most sense is that he said F it, muted his radio and went to the mountains because he was feeling depressed. While there he must have been flying low or doing dangerous maneuvers to get an adrenaline rush. But he messed up obviously and knew he did. So he hit the emergency jettison button to drop the weight of the bombs and get some maneuverability back but it was too late. The bombs are more than likely some where around the mountain and covered by now. That's my theory anyways.
I know that when i was young I would blow off steam from family and money issues buy driving the mountains dangerously fast and do donuts and burnouts in my Mustang. Once while doing this I lost control due to a wet patch on the road and crashed. My roll cage and race harness saved me. For a pilot with a craft capable of pulling hard gs and going 300mph this would have been the ultimate rush. Them saying he liked to fly low and pull up hard points to why he crashed. He dumped the bombs someplace without arming them for better manuvarability. Was circling and between the adrenalin, state of mind and hard g forces in a tight circle at 300mph he probably passed out. Things were so bad in his mind he was just going to ruin his career for one amazing flight. He probably didnt intend to die but I know I have been suicidal in my life time while behind the wheel of a very powerful car. Maybe..... this is very sad. The military has a bad history of not dealing with emotional issues soldiers are having. Buck up, be hard, swallow that pain, push through it. They need to train officers to recognize these traits and offer counseling to help. So sad.
Yeah it's most likely something like that. He was possibly *really* depressed and decided a beautiful and intense ride through the Rockys would be a great way to go out. Admittedly, this doesn't ecplian where the bombs are, while your scenario does sooo lol Probably a big combination of both/more of these, but UFOs? Nah brother haha
@@joeottsoulbikes415 We don't have the resources to keep NSA level surveillance on every pilot, so I wouldn't put so much blame on the airforce not knowing his exact (and apparently highly personal) emotional turmoil. (but, yes, you're supposed to be able to turn that shit off and execute your mission.) I _do_ take issue with them letting such a hot-head with a proven record of dangerous flying, and disobeying orders, ever even ride in an aircraft with live ammunition. Looks like he knew very well this stunt was the end of his military career, so he went down with the plane, or ejected and died of exposure in the mountains he so loved. (or he's become a sasquatch and is still living in those hills.)
Another aspect is one of his fellow pilots said in a documentary on the incident said that Button was previously a top instructor before being transferred to an A-10. The notion of stepping down to a beginning position was a major factor in his depression.
At 4:22, ""His aircraft ended up at Golddust Peak, about 13,300 feet above ground level..." Clearly enough, Capt. Button's A10 wreckage rests at "ground level" but ground level at the peak is some 13,300 feet above sea level. You need an editor.
@wargent99 I don't know that mother personally, so i have no idea what kind of person she is. But seeing that she joined an organization that is telling people that the pain and suffering in this world will soon end by divine interdiction, after which humanity gets a reboot without violent people, she loves spreading that "good news". Seeing this world realistically, understanding that it is foretold in the Bible and understanding that Jehovah's Witnesses is the only organization being able to explain what is happening and why, must be parts of the reasons for her joining. JW has all kinds of people in it, just like Earth population has a wide variety of people in it. Some are good, some are bad - even outright hypocrite pharisees - but each and everyone is just as imperfect as anyone you meet on the street. Instead of focusing on individual persons behaving bad, it's better to focus on the teachings. Is it based on the Bible, is it accurate, is it reasonable etc... Just like law makers usually want to protect us (speed limits for example), Bible contains many excellent advices for living a better life. We are just too stubborn to admit that our Creator knows better what is the best for us.
@@theDudeOfDudes Those kind of families do exist, sadly. But the organization contains a good amount of sane persons and families as well. Every person is liable for their actions and while deceiving people in their congregation is rather easy, nobody can hide from Jehovah (Hebrews 4:13). All wrongdoing in the organization will be fixed, at least after the Armageddon, but for now those abusive members need a chance to realise their wicked ways, repent and change. Sometimes the entire congregation acts wicked, believing that they obey God or protect his name, but that shouldn't be a surprise since it's very common in the general human population as well. It's sad to see people let go of a promise for a better future because some members "go beyond the written" (1. Corinthians 4:6).
If I were a military pilot who was the subject of a documentary, the last thing I’d want anyone to know is I watched The Bridges of Madison County. Then again, maybe that’s what pushed him over the edge
My wife talked me into watching the Bridges of Madison County. I thought it was a terrible movie. Clint Eastwood never shot anybody or blew up a single bridge.
I was an ECM tech that worked on the plane the day before this happened. I had to summit a urine test due to the crash. We heard different rumors than you mentioned. Love the channel
I was an air traffic controller when this happened and the pilot flew through some of the airspace that I used to control. There are several things that the pilot did during his final flight that indicated he was in control of the plane during his departure from the group and his crash site that were not fully discussed. If you read the crash report it pretty clearly points to suicide. Also some of his fellow pilots said he had previously talked about the area where he crashed and the peak that shared his first name.
Yes, he was from what I’ve read a true Patriot but messed up because he was gay and in a bad state of mind over all the forces in his life. A real man isn’t gay nor is a true patriot. He tried to be a man’s man but was gay and had an affair with another man. All that, the reports say drove him to end his life. Sad and totally unnecessary.
Obviously it was a suicide. Airplanes don't switch off their transponders, break their radios, ditch their bombs and maintain steady flight for 800 miles by themselves.
Girlfriend is not to blame, mom bears some responsibility for being a kook influence on her son. Ultimately he has free will and he decided to kill himself. He should have been grounded months before for all of his aberrant behavior. The Air Force is a joke though, I was in there, no real discipline.
@@steveperreira5850 You know it's possible to recognize the rejection as a reason without blaming the girlfriend right? I'm sure she had her reasons for declining, but that still doesn't mean he didn't kill himself because of it.
I live in Tucson, I remember this well !! I believe it was the break up that got to him . I think his girlfriend really trashed him when she turned down the engagement !! The airforce didnt want to really look into what actually happened between them ! The way they first described it as something that happened , It gave me a knot in my stomach, I'm sure she was one of those types that knew how to really rip someones heart out !!
PBS Frontline did a one hour Doc on this. It is so sad. They covered it really well. By the end of it, I was convinced that he had some unusual depressive attack for a few days and committed suicide. :-(
@@Skreamies I'm sorry, but I can not find one. I searched Pbs Frontline, and it is not there. Maybe it was not Frontline. If I find the show anywhere or the name of it, I'll let you know. :-)
7:30 Crew in a slow moving helicopter which is able to hover, identifies some wreckage in the mountains 7:40 Better call in the jets to get a closer look at it WAT!?
@@user-fc2xg5iz7y It obviously could fly that high but it would have been very near its altitude limit and very difficult to control - plus burning fuel like there was no tomorrow.
@@joeyjangler9834 I still wouldn't describe an auto cannon being loaded with dozens of rounds. Press the button and that'll be all out in less than a second lol.
The GAU-8 is classified as a gatling type cannon. An auto-cannon has a single barrel. More simple facts this channel has overlooked. I mean they did claim the ekranoplan as a hover craft, lol.
I agree. Suicide. My brother committed suicide and not a single person of my family and or his friends knew he was even remotely depressed. It's always the ones who are quiet about it are the most serious. He was hurt also over a spoiled relationship.
I think this is a great channel for introducing a wide variety of topics. There are definitely mistakes and mispronunciations, but when it’s something that really peaks my interest, I can always just go online and read more detailed articles.
Take everything lightly. Whatever you watch, research afterwards. I’ve found that a lot of his videos are widely biased, and have a ton of missing information. The information that is usually left out, works to his advantage of this “mysterious” theme. This channel is no different than what a typical journalist does;research a topic, and or ongoing event,then decide what gets reported, and what gets left out. The end goal is to create something that gets people talking, or perhaps amazed and excited, or angry and arguing. Controversy is key
"Where it crashed thirteen thousand feet above ground level." Um, Sooo... what did it hit if it was above ground? Or, did you mean to say above "mean sea level" (MSL) ?
Also the fact that he sates that the aircraft had "several" rounds of ammunition (as opposed to hundreds) for its autocannon leads me to believe he doesn't really know what he's talking about.
How dumb can u be above ground level Wich means the pilot crashed or hit a mountain and he said test run and they were testing the efficiency of the bombs and they probably didn't want to use a lot of ammunition hence (TEST RUN) but it's still something that the crew would need to prioritize bc it's in their training and several could mean hundred to thousand to a million 🙄🤦🤦
Depression, hopelessness, heart break, mental illness, young male suicide - all very, very common. But no, that's not enough for some people. It has to be alien abduction.
One of my good friends found the wreckage. The first the he saw were loose pages from the aircraft log book fluttering around on the rocks. He thought to himself “Hey, what are logbook pages doing on the side of this mountain ?” They hovered a little further and there was the wreckage.
The narrator has also referred to a .50 cal as a “zero point five caliber” on at least two occasions that I can recall in these otherwise excellent videos. There are few things more irritating to an enthusiast or vet than hearing wrongly pronounced terms in audio books and online videos.
This channel is so great it is a new milestone of history it's self and will act as a foundation of what is needed to properly past on the truth and may the truth set you free.
I admire the speed with which someone's autocorrected spelling mistake (pirate instead of pilot, lest it be edited by now) is seized upon by the internet.
I remember this event. It was very weird that I had just finished reading an article about the A10 and how lethal and potent it was about a week prior to this incident. When I heard that a pilot had gone rogue (not the exact language but that was the sentiment at the time it was being reported) I started to think about all the weapons on the A10 and damage the pilot could do.
I remember when this happened. My girlfriend at the time had a brother in the Air Force who was part of the search and rescue team sent to look for the pilot. I always thought it was a suicide, and that he crashed the A-10 on purpose. Too many problems in his life.
It's a one seat plane. That's gotta be one reason fighter pilots like their job. I recently left a job with a micromanager above me. Now, I might go 3 days without getting anything more than a "Hey Daniel" from he who is technically my supervisor. Its wonderful. I know how to do my job and I do it well. If you think you can do it better, come and do it.
Circling over snow covered slopes, last glimpse of his favorite spot at 300miles per hour would have been a melancholic and exhilirating view, till he plunged the aircraft into the snow. He could have waited for his tour in Afghanistan, and died in the blazenof glory, with a fitting full military honors at the end
@@fangsout305 If you laugh at others for not knowing, it just shows how pathetic your life is. I have been playing DCS since it was released and now for whatever reason, it is full of idiots who think they are all knowing. You are the reason new players uninstall DCS. "A new player, time to gang rape him into submission!" Playing a simulator does not make you a professional. I have 6000 hours in these simulators over the last decade and I would feel like such a fucking asshole to claim I know more than the actual pilots.
Why did not the wing man follow him to find out what the hell was going on? Did he already know the guy was a kook and was afraid that maybe there would be a dogfight. You were there I want to know? Did everybody know he was a kook! From the story it looks like known kooks get to keep flying!
@@steveperreira5850 I have no idea what happened up there and no one went into details about the flight. They also told us a completely different story about his private life then what was reported in this video.
Steve Perreira , He left the formation without notice so they didn’t miss him for enough time to get some distance away. It was later assumed he committed suicide after a gay affair that he couldn’t deal with. But that’s not proven. I feel for him as it’s clear he was under a lot of stress.
I joined the R.O.T.C specifically to fly this plane some day. I grew taller than the height restriction and it crushed me. All I wanted to do was blow up Tanks.
Question I have is how does the Captain merely break-off from the rest of the wing without any resistance or interference to the action via radio? Even despite being known to detour towards the mountains. This was a 9 million dollar military plane with live ammunition. The video says that 2 other pilots was flying with the Captain, what involvement did the these two people have with the Captain when the Captain broke away to the mountains. Was there radio silence? Was there a pursuit? Was there any attempts to diagnose for a problem or reason with the Captain? I seems like there is a missing part to this video.
There's nothing missing bud. It's just a plane. And a man. Life is not as complicated as you believe. If you're flying with him and his plane isn't where it's supposed to be you question whether or not you fucked up and you made the wrong move. Maybe you're out of position. The radar guys... just observe. The command structure doesn't say shit because they don't want to be embarrassed. Everyone tried their the radio but... it's a radio. By the time all the individual pieces are assembled the guy is getting intimate with a mountain. Be thankful it was just a mountain.
First Last - pilots have a huge level of personal responsibility, that’s why it’s takes years of training, i’m sure thousands and thousands have failed flight school for just showing small traits that are undesired. totally agree with you, if someone goes, they go.
I was wondering the exact same thing. Absolutely no mention whether or not his wingmen tried to communicate with them, or if they tried to see where he went. Did they try him on the radio with no answer? If he replied on the radio, what did he say? Did his wingmen give chase and try and assess if there was an issue (mechanical, comms, pilot confusion, awol)? There’s no mention of any of this in the video. Seems extremely odd to not mention whether or not the only two people that had visual contact with him tried to communicate/chase... especially in such a small squad of 3 aircraft. You’d think if 1 of your 3 aircraft on a training mission suddenly breaks formation and speeds away that they’d question that behaviour and try and assess that situation. Very weird.
Planes get separated more than one might think. They're trusted to know how to find their way back, either to the formation or the base. They are given a level autonomy and trust to complete their mission. He could've been at the rear of the formation which he would've been if he was planning on this.
You got to be in the military to see how little discipline and how stupid and rank file following orders these people are. Not a lot of individual initiative to follow an errant airman. Our Air Force just isn’t that good, sad to say.
Worm Science think about it: human life, comparably, is cheap. An A-10 is several million dollars, and to lose one in an accident as stupid as this, is a total waste, so, yeah, we value the aircraft more than the man piloting it.
I care more about the A-10, eacha 10 has more than a lifetime‘s worth of work put into it, actually several lifetimes worth of work wasted on this kook! He has a right to kill himself he does not have a right to destroy several lifetimes worth of work.
@@brianpayne4549 1. It wasn't an accident and 2. the Air Force values pilots far more than iron (which is why fixed-wing weapons systems have ejection seats).
I think it's just that the A10 is a well loved plane from enlisted personnel to civilians. It's just kind of an odd ball with the engines and straight wings and it has a lot of personality.
Haha I do enjoy your vids you do a wonderful job!! @ 4:29 ish the ground level made the crash 🤭 I believe you meant sea level. Keep up the great vids I'm sure I'd have a ton of mess ups I'm terrible 😂
@4:25 "where it crashed about 13,330ft above ground level." I think that should should have read "13,300ft above sea level." To crash 13,300ft above ground level, then you'd need something else to crash into.
They know far more than they'll ever tell. (eg. what did the planes telemetry record?) Where are the bombs? Well, he's 800mi off course, and had 2hrs to do something with them, so ... that's a big damn search area for four tiny bombs.
Yes and no. If the pylons were intact, the EICs and PICs unfired, etc.... Then it stands to reason the ordnance is nearby. If they aren't intact, who knows...
I wrote a song about Captain Button. Like everybody else, I was hoping he'd bailed out somewhere. I also thought he was nuts, stealing a multimillion $ airplane. C'mon, man, that's a bigger heist than the theft of the Crown Jewels of Sweden. I had him landing in a hippie commune. The guru poured him a drink. Now, some guitar licks are harder to play than other guitar licks. Although not a fast lick, him tossing down this concoction was far and away the hardest lick of all my 75 songs. I had to strike harmonics then bend the strings while working my way down the fretboard. Also, I am a great believer in putting on a show (yes, Peter Townshend is a great guitarist) and I had to make faces while bobbing my adam's apple up and down. I also had to look up to the sky and this was an early song where I'd just started training not to look at the guitar. The song got a lot of laughs and great applause. But when they found him, it wasn't funny any more and I had to drop the song after all that hard work. I have no sympathy for Captain Button. Suicide is a crime against Man and a sin against God.
They claim that they tracked it for a considerable time, and nothing was mentioned about an intercept attempt. Something just does not sound right. I would think that the Airforce would NEVER allow a plane loaded with live ammo to just get away from a formation without immediately launching some fighter jets to intercept it.
Try finding a plane with its transponder off AND low to the ground AND in mountains somewhere in 4 large states when its randomly flying around. Virtually impossible.
1. I can agree to the last answer, I drive 300+ miles sometimes to blow off steam and do photography, if i was a pilot i too would just fly many miles to escape consequence or responsibility. 2. To tightly circle a mountain peak like that at 13000ft you would need to use or jettison weapons because they weigh too much to provide any kind of maneuverability at anything above 12000ft. this all sounds like a joyride to me. something to escape the consequences of life. 3. Flying from Arizona all the way to the rocky mountains would be about 800+ miles and even thought the A10 is known to have long flight times and great fuel conservation, he likely was soon to run out of fuel. Whether he did or not, its a good explanation. 4. he did have the option to eject but it shows that if he lost control, ran out of fuel, or did have the weapons still on hard points he would likely stall at some point. Either way he seems to not have cared and let the jet crash with him in it. 5. Another thing about suicide is usually once someone goes beyond responsibility and makes those kind of decisions usually they follow through to the end and if the end concludes with them living or dying, suicidal people tend to just let it happen, again supporting that he didn't want to uphold anymore responsibilities and decided to fly away even if he would live or die.
I agree with that, he wanted to die and he wanted to go somewhere that put him at peace and something that he loved and something that was pure and beautiful
@@Paranoid-loser You almost have to give credit to those who go through all the effort to achieve even small measures of peace without knowing if they live or die.
@@ryan56721 I respect that he chose a peaceful place that was meaningful to him instead of dumping the jet into a residential area, I don't remember when but in pensacola florida there was a jet pilot experiencing a failure with the jet so instead of dumping it in the ocean which would've took no effort because it's literally right there, he decides to eject over a residential area and the jet landed in a neighborhood killing several civilians and ofc he lived to tell the tale
it's always been a career goal of mine to become an air force pilot,I failed medicals due to my eyes and the fact that I'm too tall,its sad to see him throw away what he had achieved.
There's a phenomenon known as the Rocky Mountain High (made even more famous for John Denver's song about his experience in Colorado titled Rocky Mountain High) for those who visit Colorado and experience the Rocky Mountains. The reason why he flew there is because it would have taken him about an hour and half to fly that way in his plane and having done so he flew on purpose close to the mountains so he could see them one last time. I've never experienced them but they are beautiful and I can imagine them being a place he enjoyed having seen them before. Its sad though he had to face a lot of the pressures he did, some people you never know how fragile they are mentally until they are broken.
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MVP right here. Thanks
The Magellan/CuriosityStream ads aren't bad, but sometimes you end up getting the same one in several different videos one after the other.
@STtyrone doesnt do anything when the ad is in the video/not a UA-cam ad
this has as many likes as the girlfriend meme comment... as it should be balance is achieved
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Dropped munitions on his ex’s house
Nope on his ex girlfriend's new boyfriend's cabin
Even if he did, it would be classified, and the fact it didn’t come up on google would be chorused by every bot on the internet.
@@codyi5232 i think its a joke
a 6 just like we planned
@@codyi5232 r/whoosh it’s a joke lmao
"Reports said he liked to fly low to the ground and ascend rapidly..." this is every A-10 pilot ever, you've got straight wings, that's what they're designed for. 😆
You probably feel like a rocket! 🚀
@Troy Hendrickson aww... was that too much for widdle baby to read? Should we break out Hop on Pop for you so you can feel smart?
GODDAMN (cdc 194) someone with a brain.
High altitude messes with any aircraft though
@@vampsith I get that the older aircraft aren't made to go at such high altitudes, but when WW2 ended, that wasn't a big problem anymore really..
The bigger mystery is how did this guy's air force pilot dad and staunchly anti-military JW mother get together?
Indeed, it's the biggest mystery here, I'd say.
Lots of JW are ex military.
Dad = ASPD/DPD
Mom= NPD/BPD
The parents got along fine but, the mother was controlling/manipulative to at least the son - as a cathartic outlet of course.
is actually quite common...like my my mother and father 4 example (mom devout and libertarian, dad atheist and authoritarian)...it's in crushing majority of the cases the authoritarian figure who can be blamed the most, yet close ones would never acknowledge this, since these folks also have cult of personality effect and strong denialism syndrome)...
I'm not saying it's aliens, but it's aliens.
Sounds like a suicide to me. He ditched the ordnance in a remote location in order to: 1. Not risk unexploded ordnance at the mishap investigation scene, or: 2. To get better range out of his fuel. He then smashed into a peak is his blaze of glory. He also got his 15 minutes of fame.
"Glory"... the guy was a licensed fighter pilot in the Air Force in command of a Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II in 1997, years before 9-11, and would have been experienced and ready for some of the most seasoned campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan against Saddam, the Taliban, Al'quaeda and Isis before his 35th birthday. He would have become an instructor for young pilots before we ever left Afghanistan and could have retired this year. Living his life was the glory given to him. I don't believe god punishes all suicides. I've always found that hard to believe... but when you see something like this, done by someone given a life like this, I sure do fear the blaze of his own making, is far from a place of glory for him today... I can only hope, that the truth of eternity, is a bit more complex than what we're given. Eternity is a long time. Something has to give right?
Come on Captain... a seat made for one, and you made it all about you.
Yup. Suicide by plane. "Sky King" did it better over near SeaTac. Barrel Roll!!!!
May have armed and dropped the bombs just to see what it was like (if he had not done live fire exercises yet) and then at that pointed decided he had screwed himself going AWOL and dropping bombs that death was the better option.
@@Krystalmyth "years before 9-11, and would have been experienced and ready for some of the most seasoned campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan against Saddam, the Taliban, Al'quaeda and Isis before his 35th birthday"
Ok, but its not like he actually knew any of that was going to happen, so why mention it?
Agreed, sounds like suicide on his favourite mountain.
Dark Docs: He proposed, only to be shot down.
Me: Umm... that's probably not the best way to put it?!
Why a question mark at the end tho?
bozo grammar nazi! 😝
@@bozo5982 One way of putting it when a guy gets rejected is "shot down"
Massimo Foresti I know lol. I was referencing how you put “?!” at the end of your comment, it just doesn’t make much sense.
bozo the exclamation point was at the end , silly
"It was claimed that he rented - and possibly watched - The Bridges of Madison County before going rogue." To date, easily the funniest line I have heard in any Dark Docs/Dark Skies episode. Yeah, we've all been there, brother.
If watching that movie caused someone to auger in on purpose than the fact that I've never seen it means I have made at least one good decision in my life.
@@demonicusa.k.a.theblindguy3929 yes sir
Lol! Glad I never watched that movie.
He rented and watched “The Bridges of Madison County” just before the crash. Yup, that’ll do it.
What is that movie
Yes I’m curious to know what the plot of the movie is, I wish he had explained that because it’s unclear how it relates to the video
@@dl5fse990 There is no way to know what the movie was about. I mean unless you google it.
This is like the third recent joke of that movie ive heard. Is it sad or what. I cant be bothered to look it up lol
It's about a married woman in Iowa set in the 50s. Her hubby and kid goes off somewhere for a few days. Then this photographer shows up in town to photograph old covered bridges. The photographer and woman hookup and she falls for him madly, but he has to leave and she chooses to stay home as her hubby and kid will return shortly.
Poor guy, pressured by his mom, proposal rejected, then girlfriend left him.
At least he get to see those beautiful mountain before he died, RIP Captain
UA-cam doesn't show downthumbs, but I gave you one. Captain Button was a crook, he stole a multimillion dollar airplane and caused all kinds of grief for family, friends, and much of the nation. Suicide is a crime against Man and a sin against God.
@@uggligr this is what so funny about the world we living in, if we pity a person(a crook as per you said) immediately we're marked as a crook too, or worse we marked as we support that crook's act. I pity Capt Button here because of his personal issues with families, here you are "a downthumbs" for me because i pity a crook you said.
Let just said another crook go on gunning bunch of innocents in a shopping mall, because he suffered serious depression from his family and co-workers. Here i am again pity him because of his depression, is that mean i support his gunning on innocents?
@@uggligr I assume you live in a cave.
@@johannuys7914 and why do you make such an assumption? Do you support Captain Button's crimes? I assume you live in a prison...
Wah keep crying
At about 4:15 you mentioned that the plane crashed at 13,300 Ft. above ground level, I think you ment to say above sea level. I don't believe it's possible to crash above ground level. Cheers, Billy in Canada
lmao
@hanspoulsen Beat me to it. Lol
The ground jumped up and smoked him from the sky
Well it could be some sort of air collision.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Height_above_ground_level
a little research helps.
I always felt that A10's were the closest thing we got to a X-Wing
It’s rather an I-wing.
a y-wing
Needs more engines
Theres a rear engine plane made around ww2 that looks like one but without 2 top wings
@@luckygunner3484 you're talking about the ascender right?
"Witnesses say that loud explosions were heard in northern Arizona, particularly in Telluride and Aspen." WRONG. Telluride and Aspen are NOT in northern Arizona, they're in Colorado.
He may have meant they were heard by witnesses in each of those places. From the northeast corner of Arizona, a nearly straight line can be drawn passing through Telluride and Aspen.
Edit: Telluride and Aspen are relatively well known cities which would make for decent reference points. There isn't such a well known city along that route in Arizona so he probably intended "northern Arizona" to be a reference point not the home state of the aforementioned cities.
Lololololol that’s funny yup Um and about 700 miles into his 800 mile journey off course which would indicate he fired them 100 miles from his final destination , they didn’t possibly fall off the crashed aircraft to hidden crevices that the military and PJs couldn’t located DIRECTLY BELOW the crash site lol.
Girl: he’s probably thinking about someone else. Me: wtf happen to that A-10 doe
Ex-Girl: he’s probably thinking about someone else.
Him: Nothing matters. I'm going to drop bombs and then crash this plane.
Ex gf; stupid ass hole
Me; hm that A-10 flying awfully low doe
Ffh
😂😂😂
Sounds like he lost it considering all the pressure he had in his life. Hope he found peace
Sounds like he found a hill to die on.
With a crazy mother like his.............
@jcllings agreed there has been recorded malfunctions of a-10 losing control over wing and tail ailerons mostly at higher speeds it is a 30 year aircraft despite being well maintained it still is over 30 years old it can have malfunctions
however im not sure of there being any reports of exhaust leaking into the cockpit however imma have to do some research on that
i have heard of a-10s losing power to the engines and killing the throttle and making it harder to control the plane
Should have called it "The Curious Case of Craig Button"
Seems odd that breaking away from “Flying in formation” and heading away from base wouldn’t trigger a pursuit either from the others in the flight, or initiated from an airbase he was heading towards e.g. Kirkland AFB in Albuquerque. Surprised they didn’t have wingtip to wingtip escort eventually at some point during his flight.
Something unexplained happens in the Air Force.
Conspiracy Theorists: Obviously, it's aliens.
*Ancient.
Obliviously. When something is unexplained, it’s either religious or aliens. Peoples can be very limited intellectually sometimes.
Or apparently because he watched the bridges of madison county...
"Something happened that I can't understand, therefore it cannot be explained".
Damn Free masons
The a10s flight right over my house weekly. Truly beautiful planes
They are but you can't go past a B1 for beauty.
Hearing them practice their gun runs at night while on ftx at Ft Campbell is absolutely terrifying
Even more so when you see one gun run a mortar pit that’s annoying you.
They are fugly birds.
But nothing could do their job better.
same! i think its because of my proximity to newport news/virginia/dc as a whole, but i get a lot of planes flying over
Aircraft do NOT crash ABOVE GROUND LEVEL - that is called "flying"... they crash AT ground level!
I suspect the script should have read, "13,000 ft above SEA level" instead!
controlled flight into terrain. :-D
😂😂😂😂😂
i mean you could collide into another aircraft at altitude. that would be a crash above ground level.
This comment is like "speed doesnt kill, coming to a sudden stop does"
Its actually sea level as the ground level at any specific location can be above or even below sea level (death valley). By saying "13,000 ft above ground level" the actual elevation measured above ground level at a specific point (or base elevation) could have been considerably higher (for example Mt Everest base elevation is approx 4000 meters if you say at top of Everest you are 30000 feet above ground level it would be incorrect).
The thing that always tripped me up about this, there were 2 witnesses, interviewed a week apart from each other, lived in opposite sides of the US, never knew each other but yet they had a very similar story on what happened the day of the crash. Both said they saw the a10 flying low and zipping through the mountainside. Both said they saw another jet flying above the mountains seemingly trailing the a10. And both said they heard what sounded like afterburner and then a few seconds later they heard an explosion. It makes me think we sent an f16 to shoot down the a10. The afterburner sound has to be a rocket that was fired. I wouldn’t blame the Air Force tbh. A mentally unstable pilot with live munitions is insanely dangerous to genpop. I actually praise the Air Force if they shot the plane down
Your theory is correct.
Yeah sure two different people across the country no, he released his ordinance and then flew it into the ground. My man was a patriot but bud demons and took his life
This seems unlikely. Why would the military cover it up?
I lived in the Rocky's when this happened , it was big news there , where he crashed is a really remote area and fortunately he crashed well above the timberline ( no trees just alpine tundra ) so they found his plane relatively quickly considering the terrain but if he had crashed below timberline who knows when they would have found him.
Edit : from what I recall they think he may have dropped his bombs in a alpine lake , there's alot of them up high and very remote and that could be why they've never been found.
Thousands of feet above the timberline. In fact thousands of feet above the ground.
SEAL dive teams went into some lakes....went quiet after that.....lived in Lakewood at the time.
@@TheGravitywerks ..... Yeah I lived in Silverthorne in Summit County, dont recall anything about the seals ( but memory could be hazy ) but wouldn't be surprised , still it would've been like finding the perpetual needle in a haystack .
My guard unit Hueys at Buckley AFB where involved in the search for Capt.Button,bombs where recoved they broke up into pieces and where not armed recovered after snow melt
@Disco Sucks ..... No he never ejected . Pretty sure he just committed suicide.
When i was over seas we got pinned down and rescured by a A 10 what a beautiful sight and sound
@Funny Positive Life how about thank you for your service?
@@ishat4550 How about not your country guy ?
Murcia baby
H8Rade Brewer lmao
@@LalkeBanditen how about paying respect to the people who keep our country and allied countries safe?
9:44 Harassed by a Jehovah's witness? Naaaahhhh, they would never do that.
Lmfao
Watching The Bridges of Madison County was enough to drive him over the edge alone.
“He liked to dangerously fly along low ground and then ascend rapidly, for fun”. Yeah? Well who the hell doesn’t?!
How are we paying people to use our multimillion dollar lethal assets for "fun"? This guy should have been grounded.
That’s kind of an A-10 pilot’s job.
@@thereaction18 if you arent having fun doing your job you are in the wrong field.
@@ABArsenal agreed, but as a manager if you're not actively fighting that fun, you're not doing your job 🤣
A-10's operate at low altitudes.
I've got some Jehovah's Witness in my family, they are strange people. I would not want to be around them much. This guys mother had him all screwed up most likely. As for the girlfriend, she was probably the last straw.
Yea, parents can have major effects on ppl's mental health
Cult religions tend to do that...screw people's minds up.
Yes because of the shunning. Disfellowshipping is what they call it. Many people have committed suicide from it. When a person is Disfellowshipped all communication is cut off immediately. Tragic policy. His mother would follow the orders not to talk to him because he went into the military and left the religion (cult)
have you noticed the females no matter what age seem to be drawn to it because of the no weapons thing, they like the love and peace thing, but yet totally ignore the 7 times they claimed the world was going to end, and i know its used as a weapon in other countries to get populations to be unarmed, and how they had to expand how many people will be going into the space ship to make room for their new followers over the years, and how they allow a drunk guy who post things on the JW web site tells them how to live their life, it also tells them who they can marry, it takes over their life, it limits what they can do in life,
I worked at a company that was mainly jehovah's witness'. Once they found out i was not one of them, other workers would not have lunch at the same time, and i used to get a drive each day with a guy, until i told him i did not believe in any organized religion. They will also screw over anyone who is not a jehovah! Pathetic how some fictional belief is more important than love or life....
I was there when Button launched that day, I believe he was a victim of schizophrenia and was hallucinating, possibly hearing voices telling him to do things he thought were normal. This is fairly common and descends on some people in their 20s. I have been involved with young airmen experiencing these same odd behaviors.
When pilots love mountains it rarely ends well.
Damn I'm sure the Air Force would love to know where they can get an A-10 for only $9m...
Victor Brunk yeah I thought that was cheap too
@@silentshiba1613 Probably when it was initially ordered.
I’m sure if you buy a decent amount it’s cheaper to produce
18.8 million a piece
Produced 1972 to 1984
And still going
Manny upgrades to come for continued use
Very solid plane
Chiyna
To me what makes the most sense is that he said F it, muted his radio and went to the mountains because he was feeling depressed. While there he must have been flying low or doing dangerous maneuvers to get an adrenaline rush. But he messed up obviously and knew he did. So he hit the emergency jettison button to drop the weight of the bombs and get some maneuverability back but it was too late. The bombs are more than likely some where around the mountain and covered by now. That's my theory anyways.
I was thinking almost the same thing. But the saying, "there's old pilots and bold pilots but no old, bold pilots," came to mind.
I know that when i was young I would blow off steam from family and money issues buy driving the mountains dangerously fast and do donuts and burnouts in my Mustang. Once while doing this I lost control due to a wet patch on the road and crashed. My roll cage and race harness saved me. For a pilot with a craft capable of pulling hard gs and going 300mph this would have been the ultimate rush. Them saying he liked to fly low and pull up hard points to why he crashed. He dumped the bombs someplace without arming them for better manuvarability. Was circling and between the adrenalin, state of mind and hard g forces in a tight circle at 300mph he probably passed out. Things were so bad in his mind he was just going to ruin his career for one amazing flight. He probably didnt intend to die but I know I have been suicidal in my life time while behind the wheel of a very powerful car. Maybe..... this is very sad. The military has a bad history of not dealing with emotional issues soldiers are having. Buck up, be hard, swallow that pain, push through it. They need to train officers to recognize these traits and offer counseling to help. So sad.
Yeah it's most likely something like that. He was possibly *really* depressed and decided a beautiful and intense ride through the Rockys would be a great way to go out. Admittedly, this doesn't ecplian where the bombs are, while your scenario does sooo lol
Probably a big combination of both/more of these, but UFOs? Nah brother haha
@@joeottsoulbikes415 We don't have the resources to keep NSA level surveillance on every pilot, so I wouldn't put so much blame on the airforce not knowing his exact (and apparently highly personal) emotional turmoil. (but, yes, you're supposed to be able to turn that shit off and execute your mission.) I _do_ take issue with them letting such a hot-head with a proven record of dangerous flying, and disobeying orders, ever even ride in an aircraft with live ammunition. Looks like he knew very well this stunt was the end of his military career, so he went down with the plane, or ejected and died of exposure in the mountains he so loved. (or he's become a sasquatch and is still living in those hills.)
That's a good story but it's not what happened, the federal government search for over a year or nothing was ever found so no that did not happen
Another aspect is one of his fellow pilots said in a documentary on the incident said that Button was previously a top instructor before being transferred to an A-10. The notion of stepping down to a beginning position was a major factor in his depression.
At 4:22, ""His aircraft ended up at Golddust Peak, about 13,300 feet above ground level..." Clearly enough, Capt. Button's A10 wreckage rests at "ground level" but ground level at the peak is some 13,300 feet above sea level. You need an editor.
"It's never aliens." - Matt O'Dowd
Poor dude had enough and checked out. God bless you brother.
"Hey Dad! What are those?" "I don't know, but lets take them home, maybe we can use them to blow stumps".
Or shove them in your orifices
Who is stumps? That used to be my nickname🤣
Spicy suppositories
This guy sounds like he had 10 cops of coffee before reading the script
Nah his voice is just sped up 1.25x set the playback speed to 0.75x and he sounds normal
@@aviatorlewski9310 no it sounds scary if you do that lmaoooo
Cops
Damn i didint know u could drink cops
WHOOOP! WHOOOOP! THATS THE SOUND OF YO COFFEE!
How the Hell did his mother and father find each other in the first place? Definitely NOT a match made in Heaven!
So I wasn’t the only one who was confused by this couples union 😂
Very likely they were married before the mother realised why this world is wicked and getting worse every day.
@wargent99 I don't know that mother personally, so i have no idea what kind of person she is. But seeing that she joined an organization that is telling people that the pain and suffering in this world will soon end by divine interdiction, after which humanity gets a reboot without violent people, she loves spreading that "good news". Seeing this world realistically, understanding that it is foretold in the Bible and understanding that Jehovah's Witnesses is the only organization being able to explain what is happening and why, must be parts of the reasons for her joining.
JW has all kinds of people in it, just like Earth population has a wide variety of people in it. Some are good, some are bad - even outright hypocrite pharisees - but each and everyone is just as imperfect as anyone you meet on the street. Instead of focusing on individual persons behaving bad, it's better to focus on the teachings. Is it based on the Bible, is it accurate, is it reasonable etc... Just like law makers usually want to protect us (speed limits for example), Bible contains many excellent advices for living a better life. We are just too stubborn to admit that our Creator knows better what is the best for us.
@@sleeptyper every JW family I've ever known was full of abuse and a bunch of other weird shit behind closed doors.
@@theDudeOfDudes Those kind of families do exist, sadly. But the organization contains a good amount of sane persons and families as well.
Every person is liable for their actions and while deceiving people in their congregation is rather easy, nobody can hide from Jehovah (Hebrews 4:13). All wrongdoing in the organization will be fixed, at least after the Armageddon, but for now those abusive members need a chance to realise their wicked ways, repent and change.
Sometimes the entire congregation acts wicked, believing that they obey God or protect his name, but that shouldn't be a surprise since it's very common in the general human population as well.
It's sad to see people let go of a promise for a better future because some members "go beyond the written" (1. Corinthians 4:6).
If I were a military pilot who was the subject of a documentary, the last thing I’d want anyone to know is I watched The Bridges of Madison County.
Then again, maybe that’s what pushed him over the edge
At least it was not broke Back Mountain ,lol
Well...he was Air Farce.
Dave Tedder- got beef with the Air Force? Get ya some, tough guy
My wife talked me into watching the Bridges of Madison County. I thought it was a terrible movie. Clint Eastwood never shot anybody or blew up a single bridge.
@@wvzepplin1509 chair force... 🤣
Honestly though, if I could do it again I should have went to the air force instead of the army.
I was an ECM tech that worked on the plane the day before this happened. I had to summit a urine test due to the crash. We heard different rumors than you mentioned. Love the channel
What rumours did you hear?
I was working EOR that day, we had to give blood and urine. I also heard different rumors.
What rumors???
@@michaelmartin5869 are you guys talkin bout???? Hmmmm
I was an air traffic controller when this happened and the pilot flew through some of the airspace that I used to control. There are several things that the pilot did during his final flight that indicated he was in control of the plane during his departure from the group and his crash site that were not fully discussed. If you read the crash report it pretty clearly points to suicide. Also some of his fellow pilots said he had previously talked about the area where he crashed and the peak that shared his first name.
Yes, he was from what I’ve read a true Patriot but messed up because he was gay and in a bad state of mind over all the forces in his life. A real man isn’t gay nor is a true patriot. He tried to be a man’s man but was gay and had an affair with another man. All that, the reports say drove him to end his life. Sad and totally unnecessary.
@@sonnyburnett8725 Provide a link, or STFU
Obviously it was a suicide. Airplanes don't switch off their transponders, break their radios, ditch their bombs and maintain steady flight for 800 miles by themselves.
Crazy mom and girlfriend rejecting marriage proposal would do it.
Girlfriend is not to blame, mom bears some responsibility for being a kook influence on her son. Ultimately he has free will and he decided to kill himself. He should have been grounded months before for all of his aberrant behavior. The Air Force is a joke though, I was in there, no real discipline.
Who shoots down an A-10 pilot?
@@steveperreira5850
You know it's possible to recognize the rejection as a reason without blaming the girlfriend right? I'm sure she had her reasons for declining, but that still doesn't mean he didn't kill himself because of it.
I live in Tucson, I remember this well !! I believe it was the break up that got to him . I think his girlfriend really trashed him when she turned down the engagement !! The airforce didnt want to really look into what actually happened between them ! The way they first described it as something that happened , It gave me a knot in my stomach, I'm sure she was one of those types that knew how to really rip someones heart out !!
He was going to DOR and proposed but she only wanted to marry an aviator... ;)
very sad, but they're not worth it. move on stay single, much better for a man's mental health.
So you're guessing or you know his girlfriend, because it's pretty chitty to say that without knowing, just saying.
I was at Tucson High at the time it happened. Didn't find out until we got out for the day hahah
@@gwcrispi Bwah ha!
PBS Frontline did a one hour Doc on this. It is so sad. They covered it really well. By the end of it, I was convinced that he had some unusual depressive attack for a few days and committed suicide. :-(
Do you have a link/ title?
@@Skreamies I'm sorry, but I can not find one. I searched Pbs Frontline, and it is not there. Maybe it was not Frontline. If I find the show anywhere or the name of it, I'll let you know. :-)
@@Davethreshold did you have any luck finding the video ?
7:30 Crew in a slow moving helicopter which is able to hover, identifies some wreckage in the mountains
7:40 Better call in the jets to get a closer look at it
WAT!?
That was super funny when I heard it!
In case you are still wondering, they probably wanted someone who knew the plane to confirm the wreckage
I think it’s because the helicopter doesn’t fly high enough and the jets were gathering photographs.
@@user-fc2xg5iz7y It obviously could fly that high but it would have been very near its altitude limit and very difficult to control - plus burning fuel like there was no tomorrow.
@@connorlastname3034 Agreed. They likely wanted people who knew the A-10 well enough to recognize its parts.
This was on an episode on west wing on Netflix. I didn’t think it was an actual event. On the show they said it was suicidal.
Wasn't that "Noel"?
Clinton Moran It happened, why would you spread false information?
James Sebela what? Where did he say it was false. He said he saw it on an episode of West Wing and didn’t realize it was a REAL event.
2:52 "several rounds"? A round is an individual bullet; that autocannon uses hundreds of "rounds".
probably wasn't fully loaded for a training excersize.
@@joeyjangler9834 I still wouldn't describe an auto cannon being loaded with dozens of rounds.
Press the button and that'll be all out in less than a second lol.
The GAU-8 is classified as a gatling type cannon. An auto-cannon has a single barrel.
More simple facts this channel has overlooked. I mean they did claim the ekranoplan as a hover craft, lol.
@@JohnDoe-vf2yo yea hovercraft and ground effect vehicles are not the same at all
Is it really that important to the video compared to everything else?
Thank god he didn’t hurt anyone. …. They’d try to outlaw a-10’s next
I agree. Suicide. My brother committed suicide and not a single person of my family and or his friends knew he was even remotely depressed. It's always the ones who are quiet about it are the most serious. He was hurt also over a spoiled relationship.
so somewhere out there, there is a man with a volkswagen beetle sized gun?
the ultimate boogaloo comeback
or Russia got it.
The aircraft (including GAU8) was recovered, the 500lb bombs were not.
Good for hunting mega-deer
@@matthewf1979 so there's someone out there with bombs the weight of their mom?
Damn, I love this channel. I don't know how much he gets wrong but it's still uber interesting.
A lot
Virtually everything I've seen.
I think this is a great channel for introducing a wide variety of topics. There are definitely mistakes and mispronunciations, but when it’s something that really peaks my interest, I can always just go online and read more detailed articles.
Take everything lightly. Whatever you watch, research afterwards. I’ve found that a lot of his videos are widely biased, and have a ton of missing information. The information that is usually left out, works to his advantage of this “mysterious” theme. This channel is no different than what a typical journalist does;research a topic, and or ongoing event,then decide what gets reported, and what gets left out. The end goal is to create something that gets people talking, or perhaps amazed and excited, or angry and arguing. Controversy is key
"It's thought that Button had recently proposed, only to be shot down."
S A V A G E 👌
"Where it crashed thirteen thousand feet above ground level."
Um, Sooo... what did it hit if it was above ground?
Or, did you mean to say above "mean sea level" (MSL) ?
Also the fact that he sates that the aircraft had "several" rounds of ammunition (as opposed to hundreds) for its autocannon leads me to believe he doesn't really know what he's talking about.
How dumb can u be above ground level Wich means the pilot crashed or hit a mountain and he said test run and they were testing the efficiency of the bombs and they probably didn't want to use a lot of ammunition hence (TEST RUN) but it's still something that the crew would need to prioritize bc it's in their training and several could mean hundred to thousand to a million 🙄🤦🤦
@@63Hayden
Try thousands. Not hundreds. It appears you don't know what you're talking about. Moron.
Should be ASL Above Sea Level. Hitting the mountain is actually hitting the ground level
Bill Kerman 1-its thousands not hundreds 2-I doubt they would allow more than a couple hundred rounds on his first live armament mission.
Depression, hopelessness, heart break, mental illness, young male suicide - all very, very common. But no, that's not enough for some people. It has to be alien abduction.
Yea, they like to blame the Mexicans for everything.
Well, i thought about on the same frequency too as you. Why not? That would be the 👽alien way too snatch a ✈️plane. Away from witnesses.
We are human we are angry we get sad we get depressed we get happy it's a roller coaster of life
Quite agree. Just like Trump thinks green and purple Martians stole all his votes - lol.
I wasn't aware of any mention of whether the body was found, although there was library footage of a stretcher being winched onto a chopper.
"HEY JIM! LOOK WHAT I FOUND!"
One of my good friends found the wreckage. The first the he saw were loose pages from the aircraft log book fluttering around on the rocks. He thought to himself “Hey, what are logbook pages doing on the side of this mountain ?” They hovered a little further and there was the wreckage.
Did your friend have any insight on what seemed to be wrong at the crash site?
Did they ever find his body??
Mk 82 is pronounced “Mark 82”, not “emm kay 82”
Karl von Eschenhof, you beat me to it...so fricking annoying when I hear someone say 'emm kay' instead of 'mark'.....
The narrator has also referred to a .50 cal as a “zero point five caliber” on at least two occasions that I can recall in these otherwise excellent videos.
There are few things more irritating to an enthusiast or vet than hearing wrongly pronounced terms in audio books and online videos.
@@FloridaManMatty 50 cal is often reffered to as "point five O"
M'kay.
I mean, can you really blame him for pronouncing the letters "M K" as... M K ?
Rest in peace Capt Button. You went where you loved to visit. That much more than most of us get to leave this world.
This channel is so great it is a new milestone of history it's self and will act as a foundation of what is needed to properly past on the truth and may the truth set you free.
Hypoxia: the boring truth of most unexplained pirate errors at altitude.
Not at 13,000 feet
Ah yes air pirates
@@colderwar it occurs in more than 40% of the population above 10k feet.
HARK! CURSE YE, O BLASTED MISFORTUNES OF AEOLUS! I BE AFOULED BY THE MANY LOST SOULS OF UNBREATHING MEN OF AFORE!
I admire the speed with which someone's autocorrected spelling mistake (pirate instead of pilot, lest it be edited by now) is seized upon by the internet.
I heard about this. It still sends chills down my spine.
I have never heard this story but it is creepy indeed.
It still sends chills down my spine. kek
@@derrobur8551 missing ordnance of that kind should scare anyone.
I remember this event. It was very weird that I had just finished reading an article about the A10 and how lethal and potent it was about a week prior to this incident. When I heard that a pilot had gone rogue (not the exact language but that was the sentiment at the time it was being reported) I started to think about all the weapons on the A10 and damage the pilot could do.
I remember when this happened. My girlfriend at the time had a brother in the Air Force who was part of the search and rescue team sent to look for the pilot. I always thought it was a suicide, and that he crashed the A-10 on purpose. Too many problems in his life.
I am a pilot and now I know why I never got an A10 to fly, I don’t have enough mental problems!
“Where it crashed 13,300 feet above ground level…“
He probably meant MSL (mean sea level) as AGL (above ground level) means you’re in the sky.
Honestly I feel he wanted solitude and just being alone
He just wanted to have some alone time with his A-10
It's a one seat plane. That's gotta be one reason fighter pilots like their job. I recently left a job with a micromanager above me. Now, I might go 3 days without getting anything more than a "Hey Daniel" from he who is technically my supervisor. Its wonderful. I know how to do my job and I do it well. If you think you can do it better, come and do it.
@@fauxhound5061 yeah just him and brrrrrrrrrrrrrt
Just like tom cruise in oblivion!
Still an effective team
Daniel V
In two-seat fighters the second seat is for a radar/weapons officer. The pilot is still in charge of the aircraft.
This is such an ominous and eerie story. Can't get it out of my head.
Circling over snow covered slopes, last glimpse of his favorite spot at 300miles per hour would have been a melancholic and exhilirating view, till he plunged the aircraft into the snow. He could have waited for his tour in Afghanistan, and died in the blazenof glory, with a fitting full military honors at the end
Consistency! I subbed to all your channels and love it to the core. Your voice great for narration. No bs no humor just clearly holes in 1
Except these shows do not show truth or correct information.
it's pronounced 'mark 82s' instead of 'emm kay 82s'
Imagine flying in DCS and you call mk.82s, M k 82. You would get laughed at imediantly
Was waiting for that comment.
@@fangsout305 If you laugh at others for not knowing, it just shows how pathetic your life is. I have been playing DCS since it was released and now for whatever reason, it is full of idiots who think they are all knowing. You are the reason new players uninstall DCS. "A new player, time to gang rape him into submission!" Playing a simulator does not make you a professional. I have 6000 hours in these simulators over the last decade and I would feel like such a fucking asshole to claim I know more than the actual pilots.
Can’t blame civis for being so ignorant lol
@@antz350 Am civi. Also a military nerd. Always nice to be able to converse with someone in the military and not sound like a complete tard.
I was working EOR that day, when his wing man came back alone we all knew something was wrong.
Why did not the wing man follow him to find out what the hell was going on? Did he already know the guy was a kook and was afraid that maybe there would be a dogfight. You were there I want to know? Did everybody know he was a kook! From the story it looks like known kooks get to keep flying!
@@steveperreira5850 I have no idea what happened up there and no one went into details about the flight. They also told us a completely different story about his private life then what was reported in this video.
Steve Perreira , He left the formation without notice so they didn’t miss him for enough time to get some distance away. It was later assumed he committed suicide after a gay affair that he couldn’t deal with. But that’s not proven. I feel for him as it’s clear he was under a lot of stress.
I joined the R.O.T.C specifically to fly this plane some day. I grew taller than the height restriction and it crushed me. All I wanted to do was blow up Tanks.
Are you still in?
I bet you're long though
Question I have is how does the Captain merely break-off from the rest of the wing without any resistance or interference to the action via radio? Even despite being known to detour towards the mountains. This was a 9 million dollar military plane with live ammunition.
The video says that 2 other pilots was flying with the Captain, what involvement did the these two people have with the Captain when the Captain broke away to the mountains.
Was there radio silence? Was there a pursuit? Was there any attempts to diagnose for a problem or reason with the Captain?
I seems like there is a missing part to this video.
There's nothing missing bud. It's just a plane. And a man. Life is not as complicated as you believe. If you're flying with him and his plane isn't where it's supposed to be you question whether or not you fucked up and you made the wrong move. Maybe you're out of position. The radar guys... just observe. The command structure doesn't say shit because they don't want to be embarrassed. Everyone tried their the radio but... it's a radio. By the time all the individual pieces are assembled the guy is getting intimate with a mountain. Be thankful it was just
a mountain.
First Last - pilots have a huge level of personal responsibility, that’s why it’s takes years of training, i’m sure thousands and thousands have failed flight school for just showing small traits that are undesired.
totally agree with you, if someone goes, they go.
I was wondering the exact same thing. Absolutely no mention whether or not his wingmen tried to communicate with them, or if they tried to see where he went.
Did they try him on the radio with no answer? If he replied on the radio, what did he say? Did his wingmen give chase and try and assess if there was an issue (mechanical, comms, pilot confusion, awol)?
There’s no mention of any of this in the video. Seems extremely odd to not mention whether or not the only two people that had visual contact with him tried to communicate/chase... especially in such a small squad of 3 aircraft.
You’d think if 1 of your 3 aircraft on a training mission suddenly breaks formation and speeds away that they’d question that behaviour and try and assess that situation. Very weird.
Planes get separated more than one might think. They're trusted to know how to find their way back, either to the formation or the base. They are given a level autonomy and trust to complete their mission. He could've been at the rear of the formation which he would've been if he was planning on this.
You got to be in the military to see how little discipline and how stupid and rank file following orders these people are. Not a lot of individual initiative to follow an errant airman. Our Air Force just isn’t that good, sad to say.
I love how more people care about the A-10 then the pilot😂
Worm Science think about it: human life, comparably, is cheap. An A-10 is several million dollars, and to lose one in an accident as stupid as this, is a total waste, so, yeah, we value the aircraft more than the man piloting it.
Yar Nunya exactly why I view A-10’s more highly than human life.
I care more about the A-10, eacha 10 has more than a lifetime‘s worth of work put into it, actually several lifetimes worth of work wasted on this kook! He has a right to kill himself he does not have a right to destroy several lifetimes worth of work.
@@brianpayne4549 1. It wasn't an accident and 2. the Air Force values pilots far more than iron (which is why fixed-wing weapons systems have ejection seats).
I think it's just that the A10 is a well loved plane from enlisted personnel to civilians. It's just kind of an odd ball with the engines and straight wings and it has a lot of personality.
Haha I do enjoy your vids you do a wonderful job!! @ 4:29 ish the ground level made the crash 🤭 I believe you meant sea level.
Keep up the great vids I'm sure I'd have a ton of mess ups I'm terrible 😂
Came for an A-10 video, stayed for wicked military footage....
Had to rewatch twice
He did not attempt to eject, the Air Force determined.
He was 32 years of age.
@4:25 "where it crashed about 13,330ft above ground level."
I think that should should have read "13,300ft above sea level." To crash 13,300ft above ground level, then you'd need something else to crash into.
I recently discovered this channel. It is interesting and well made. 👍
My high school JROTC instructor was one of this guy’s instructors back in the day.
For as much investigating as the military is capable of I doubt they’d be okay with “we’re not sure” as an answer.
Militarty Intelligence ... two words combined that make no sense
Jim Worthington
When you get a brief from an 0203, ask him what color a haj’s underwear is.
They know far more than they'll ever tell. (eg. what did the planes telemetry record?) Where are the bombs? Well, he's 800mi off course, and had 2hrs to do something with them, so ... that's a big damn search area for four tiny bombs.
jfbeam especially when bombs tend to drop nose first and even if they didn't explode they would likely bury themselves fairly deeply.
Would it be possible to tell if ordinance was dropped by examining the wreckage? Specifically the controls and ordinance pylons?
Yes and no. If the pylons were intact, the EICs and PICs unfired, etc.... Then it stands to reason the ordnance is nearby. If they aren't intact, who knows...
They could’ve tried finding a data log on what happened, though you can’t be for sure
The wreckage was examined and the ordnance had not been armed or dropped and was found with the rest of the wreckage.
@@bradborgelt60 well there you have it then. :)
Yet another un reported anomaly. Read my commentS of may 29/2020. TWO MAJOR things and numerous mionor ones unexplained.
“Above ground level” is hardly ever where planes crash into the ground.
AGL or, Above Ground Level, is an aviation term denoting height above ground instead of height above sea level.
I wrote a song about Captain Button. Like everybody else, I was hoping he'd bailed out somewhere. I also thought he was nuts, stealing a multimillion $ airplane. C'mon, man, that's a bigger heist than the theft of the Crown Jewels of Sweden. I had him landing in a hippie commune. The guru poured him a drink.
Now, some guitar licks are harder to play than other guitar licks. Although not a fast lick, him tossing down this concoction was far and away the hardest lick of all my 75 songs. I had to strike harmonics then bend the strings while working my way down the fretboard. Also, I am a great believer in putting on a show (yes, Peter Townshend is a great guitarist) and I had to make faces while bobbing my adam's apple up and down. I also had to look up to the sky and this was an early song where I'd just started training not to look at the guitar.
The song got a lot of laughs and great applause. But when they found him, it wasn't funny any more and I had to drop the song after all that hard work.
I have no sympathy for Captain Button. Suicide is a crime against Man and a sin against God.
They claim that they tracked it for a considerable time, and nothing was mentioned about an intercept attempt. Something just does not sound right. I would think that the Airforce would NEVER allow a plane loaded with live ammo to just get away from a formation without immediately launching some fighter jets to intercept it.
I don't know if these days it would be different, but remember, this was pre 9/11.
Try finding a plane with its transponder off AND low to the ground AND in mountains somewhere in 4 large states when its randomly flying around. Virtually impossible.
I remember when this happened. I was at Fort Knox when this went down
Magellan TV.. changing history one video at a time !
Fun fact: The successor of the A-10 is in development, the A-14 Wildwolf and A-14B Nightwolf!
1. I can agree to the last answer, I drive 300+ miles sometimes to blow off steam and do photography, if i was a pilot i too would just fly many miles to escape consequence or responsibility.
2. To tightly circle a mountain peak like that at 13000ft you would need to use or jettison weapons because they weigh too much to provide any kind of maneuverability at anything above 12000ft. this all sounds like a joyride to me. something to escape the consequences of life.
3. Flying from Arizona all the way to the rocky mountains would be about 800+ miles and even thought the A10 is known to have long flight times and great fuel conservation, he likely was soon to run out of fuel. Whether he did or not, its a good explanation.
4. he did have the option to eject but it shows that if he lost control, ran out of fuel, or did have the weapons still on hard points he would likely stall at some point. Either way he seems to not have cared and let the jet crash with him in it.
5. Another thing about suicide is usually once someone goes beyond responsibility and makes those kind of decisions usually they follow through to the end and if the end concludes with them living or dying, suicidal people tend to just let it happen, again supporting that he didn't want to uphold anymore responsibilities and decided to fly away even if he would live or die.
I agree with that, he wanted to die and he wanted to go somewhere that put him at peace and something that he loved and something that was pure and beautiful
@@Paranoid-loser You almost have to give credit to those who go through all the effort to achieve even small measures of peace without knowing if they live or die.
@@ryan56721 I respect that he chose a peaceful place that was meaningful to him instead of dumping the jet into a residential area, I don't remember when but in pensacola florida there was a jet pilot experiencing a failure with the jet so instead of dumping it in the ocean which would've took no effort because it's literally right there, he decides to eject over a residential area and the jet landed in a neighborhood killing several civilians and ofc he lived to tell the tale
4:25 "... crashed about 13,300 feet above ground level..." It crashed over 10,000 feet above ground level? Pretty darn unlikely.
Always sit at the rear of a plane. You never hear of them reversing into mountains.
Captain Button was 1 of 12 that were picked for the Serpo mission.
Ripped straight from the pages of wikipedia.
I totally believe that. But I’m not even going to go to Wikipedia to verify your statement because they suck so bad.
OH MY GOD, he knew about the Stargate command! because he is in fact a Goa'uld!
Indeed
Craig Button is currently working as a hockey analyst for TSN. Sorry to blow your cover, Craig.
The government doesnt want you to know this, but the A-10 can smell enemies from 1000 miles away
"... where it crashed about 13,300 ft. above ground level."
Umm... nope.
I’m suprised no jet fighter pilot had gone rogue yet and when on some kind of suicide mission
There are not a lot of Muslim pilots in the US Air Force, so very low suicide mission rate.
it's always been a career goal of mine to become an air force pilot,I failed medicals due to my eyes and the fact that I'm too tall,its sad to see him throw away what he had achieved.
There's a phenomenon known as the Rocky Mountain High (made even more famous for John Denver's song about his experience in Colorado titled Rocky Mountain High) for those who visit Colorado and experience the Rocky Mountains. The reason why he flew there is because it would have taken him about an hour and half to fly that way in his plane and having done so he flew on purpose close to the mountains so he could see them one last time. I've never experienced them but they are beautiful and I can imagine them being a place he enjoyed having seen them before. Its sad though he had to face a lot of the pressures he did, some people you never know how fragile they are mentally until they are broken.
It seems to me he just pulled a John Denver