New video shows a pair of F-117 Black Jet stealth fighters flying over Nevada

New video shows pair of F-117 Black Jet stealth fighters flying over Nevada

By Dario Leone
Jul 30 2018
Share this article

With the appearance of this video, it seems the final chapter in Black Jet’s life has not yet been written

Taken on Jul. 26, 2018 the interesting footage in this post shows two F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters flying over Nevada.

According the video description, the aircraft, callsigns Night 17 and 19, departed and tanked with Sierra 98 (KC-135 from Fairchild AFB). Night 17 then flew a test mission while Night 19 returned to the Tonopah Test Range.

Noteworthy it’s been 10 years since the F-117 Nighthawk officially retired.

In fact, the last F-117s left Holloman AFB on Apr. 22, 2008 with a stop at their birthplace in Palmdale, California, before ending up in their final resting place where their historic journey began in 1981 – Tonopah Test Range, Nevada. The aircraft were placed in Type 1000 storage in the event they were ever called back into duty (actually there have been many reported sightings and pictures of the aircraft flying in the Nellis Bombing Range where some of the aircraft were flown periodically…).

New video shows pair of F-117 Black Jet stealth fighters flying over Nevada
This print is available in multiple sizes from AircraftProfilePrints.com – CLICK HERE TO GET YOURS.  F-117A Nighthawk (Stealth) 49th OG, 8th FS “The Black Sheep Squadron”, HO/88-843, Holoman AFB, NM – 2008

By April 2016, lawmakers appeared ready to “remove the requirement that certain F-117 aircraft be maintained in a condition that would allow recall of those aircraft to future service,” which would move them from storage to the aerospace maintenance and regeneration yard in Arizona to be scavenged for hard-to-find parts, or completely disassembled.

On Sep. 11, 2017, it was reported that in accordance with the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, signed into law on Dec. 23, 2016, “the Air Force will remove four F-117s every year to fully divest them — a process known as demilitarizing aircraft…”

But now, with the appearance of this video, it seems the final chapter in Black Jet’s life has not yet been written.

Artwork courtesy of AircraftProfilePrints.com


Share this article

Dario Leone

Dario Leone

Dario Leone is an aviation, defense and military writer. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviation Geek Club” one of the world’s most read military aviation blogs. His writing has appeared in The National Interest and other news media. He has reported from Europe and flown Super Puma and Cougar helicopters with the Swiss Air Force.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Share this article


Share this article
Share this article

Always up to date! News and offers delivered directly to you!

Get the best aviation news, stories and features from The Aviation Geek Club in our newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.



    Share this article
    Back to top
    My Agile Privacy
    This website uses technical and profiling cookies. Clicking on "Accept" authorises all profiling cookies. Clicking on "Refuse" or the X will refuse all profiling cookies. By clicking on "Customise" you can select which profiling cookies to activate. We and our selected ad partners can store and/or access information on your device, such as cookies, unique identifiers, browsing data. You can always choose the specific purposes related to profiling by accessing the advertising preferences panel, and you can always withdraw your consent at any time by clicking on "Manage consent" at the bottom of the page.

    List of some possible advertising permissions:

    You can consult: our list of advertising partners, the Cookie Policy and the Privacy Policy.
    Warning: some page functionalities could not work due to your privacy choices