It was on Friday that a U.S. F-15E was shot down over western Iran. Both crew members ejected, according to the U.S. military, but only one has been rescued.
The fate of the other pilot is unknown. Regardless, a search operation is underway.
U.S. pilots are trained in survival techniques. They begin applying them immediately after ejection, says former fighter pilot Houston Cantwell.
"You get your best overview of where you want to go, or which places you want to avoid, when you're on your way down under the parachute," he tells Newsweek.
The first challenge is landing safely. Broken bones are not uncommon, according to Cantwell.
Hiding
Once on the ground, the next task is to find a safe location, preferably far from the local population, to avoid being captured by enemy forces, and from there share your location via transmitters included in their equipment, Admiral William J. Fallon told The New York Times. He is the former head of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).
Then it's time to wait for help. The U.S. Air Force has special units nearby for this type of search-and-rescue operation in enemy territory, known as CSAR.
In video footage verified by the BBC, U.S. helicopters were seen flying at low altitude in western Iran.
A former commander of such a unit told CBS that a rescue operation like the one in Iran should include at least 24 specially trained soldiers searching the area in Black Hawk helicopters.
“Extremely dangerous”
He described such missions as "terrifying and, to put it mildly, extremely dangerous."
But Iran is also searching for the pilot. According to state-run Iranian media, a reward equivalent to half a million kronor has been offered for anyone who finds U.S. soldiers.
A captured American soldier would have been a "very powerful bargaining chip" for the regime, Laurel Rapp at the Chatham House think tank told the BBC.
During the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, thousands of CSAR missions were carried out, but since then they have been rare, according to the BBC.
One of the more famous cases took place in 1995 during the Bosnian War, when U.S. pilot Scott O'Grady was rescued by special forces after evading capture for six days.
