The Terrible Cost of One Deadly Midair Collision at Naval Air Station Fallon

Shortly after striking his head on the ground upon landing, Navy fighter pilot Anthony Roy began to collect pieces of airplane.

As he did, a family that had witnessed his descent in a parachute approached him. With Roy's arms full of plane fragments, the curious onlookers inquired about his well-being.

"They get out [of their car], like, 'Are you OK?' 'Yeah, I'm OK,'" Roy recounted in a recent episode of The Fighter Pilot Podcast. "'You're in shock.' 'I'm not in shock.'"

Roy hesitated for a brief second before acknowledging the truth.

"Obviously, I was in shock."

Roy chuckled at the absurdity of surviving a fatal midair collision with a fighter jet he never saw coming. That incident on June 13, 2008, near Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada became the basis for a series of podcasts called "The Merge" -- a term referring to the point when two or more fighter aircraft meet visually. Recorded in 2021, "The Merge" covers seven episodes and chronicles how that accident has affected those directly involved as well as their friends, family and squadron mates.

The Fighter Pilot Podcast began rerunning "The Merge" in mid-July, and the final installment of the series is set to be available Tuesday on the podcast's website.

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What Happened?

The cloudless skies over Naval Air Station Fallon, located 70 miles east of Reno, seemed perfect for flying that day. Aviators were conducting a large-force exercise, with some of the aircraft assuming the role of adversaries. Aboard a F-5F Tiger II dual-seat tactical fighter, Roy -- part of the VFC 13 "Flying Saints" squadron -- and U.S. Naval Academy midshipman Andy Christopher were among those "bad guys" during this training.

In his first time in a Navy aircraft, Christopher was there to observe. The flight started off normally as Roy calmly pointed out various sights to Christopher as they moved into position. Roy was flying at roughly 13,500 feet and said on the podcast that he was beginning to feel apprehensive shortly before the collision because there were aircraft in his area that he did not expect.

Roy was in the middle of a left-hand turn when something jolted his F-5F Tiger II. While Roy immediately knew what happened, Christopher was not aware another aircraft hit them because of his position in the aircraft. Both pulled the handles on their ejection seats, with Roy describing the time between when the motor stopped running on his seat until his parachute blossomed as "the longest eight seconds of my life."

"The jerk of the chute opening was the most glorious moment of my life," Roy said in Episode 3 of "The Merge." "The first thing I thought was, 'I'm going to go home. I'm going to hug my wife. I'm going to make babies. I'm going to live right. I'm going to live clean, thank God. [It was] just this huge burst of joy."

Roy recalled that his emotions immediately shifted from euphoria to anger, with questions swirling through his mind at supersonic speed:

• What happened?
• How could I have been hit?
• What was that guy thinking?

The collision killed 28-year-old Lt. Jeremy Wise, whose F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet blindsided Roy's F-5F Tiger II. Roy and Christopher were hospitalized with minor injuries, according to a Fallon spokesman at the time.

'The First Gut Punch'

Capt. Brian Emme served as Wise's class adviser during Fleet Replacement Squadron training. In Episode 4 of "The Merge," he described Wise as an inquisitive and attentive student and a capable wingman.

Emme recognized the first sign of trouble on June 13 when he looked to his right and noticed a tremendous flash and the F-5F Tiger II beginning to fall apart. Not long after, the decimated aircraft struck the desert floor and exploded.

In those frightful moments, Emme was unsure what exactly happened or who was involved in the collision. When the strike lead initiated a roll call and Wise did not respond, Emme first realized his wingman might have been involved.

After Emme received confirmation that Wise had died, he was understandably shaken.

"That was the first gut punch from me hearing it from somebody," he recalled.

Nonetheless, Emme's squadron ventured out to the crash site roughly 110 miles east of Reno the next day, hoping to discover any evidence that Wise might have survived. The death of his wingman changed how Emme approached being a flight leader, saying from that point forward, he exercised more caution during any exercises that put two or more aircraft in close proximity to each other.

"At the end of the day, the goal is for all of us to go home," Emme said.

Unfortunately, Wise never got that chance.

"My wife has always asked me, 'How did you make the decision to eject?'" Roy recounted on "The Merge." "The decision was instantaneous. I knew immediately. Everything changed. The plane was no longer controllable."

You can listen to every episode of "The Merge" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Overcast by going to The Fighter Pilot Podcast's website.

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