Scott O ' Grady Scott Francis O ' Grady ( born October 12 , 1965 ) is a former United States Air Force fighter pilot who gained prominence after he ejected over Bosnia after his F - 16C was hit by a missile fired from a Bosnian Serb SA - 6 mobile rocket launcher on June 2 , 1995 , while he was patrolling a no - fly zone . He also participated in the Banja Luka incident where he fired upon one enemy aircraft . The 2001 film " Behind Enemy Lines " , is loosely based upon his experiences . In September 2011 , O ' Grady announced a run for the 2012 Republican nomination for Texas State Senate District 8 , held at the time by the retiring Republican Florence Shapiro , but he later suspended his campaign because of uncertainties over the Texas redistricting fight . Career . NATO : Operation Deny Flight . The Bosnian War was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995 . The North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) , after popular pressure , had decided to intervene in the Bosnian War after allegations of war crimes against civilians were made by various media organizations . NATO military involvement primarily involved enforcement of a " No Fly Zone " code named Operation Deny Flight to discourage military aircraft of the Bosnian - Serb Armed Forces from attacking Bosnian civilians and Bosniak and Croat forces . As part of that operation , two F - 16s from the 555th Fighter Squadron based at Aviano Air Base , Italy , were patrolling the skies above Bosnia on June 2 , 1995 . Shootdown . On the ground , a Bosnian Serb Army 2K12 Kub surface - to - air missile near Mrkonjić Grad was readying its missiles for NATO aircraft . The Serbs had moved the mobile tracked missile battery and laid a trap . They switched on their missile radars sparingly , giving the F - 16 pilots little warning . Waiting until it was directly overhead , where the aircraft ' s warning and countermeasures would be at its weakest , they fired two missiles skyward . In the cockpit , O ' Grady ' s instruments alerted him that a missile was coming but , because he was flying in clouds , he could not see it . The first missile exploded between the two aircraft . The second struck the F - 16 piloted by O ' Grady . His wingman , Captain Bob Wright , saw O ' Grady ' s plane burst into flames , breaking it in two . He did not see a parachute , but O ' Grady survived as he ejected from the aircraft . O ' Grady landed amidst a Bosnian - Serb population that was assumed to be unfriendly and , within a minute , he secured a 29 - pound survival bag under his seat , ran , and hid . Rubbing dirt on his face , he hid face - down as Bosnian - Serb forces came upon his parachute and ejection seat , at one point hitting the ground with their rifles in an effort to flush him out only feet from where he was hidden . During the next six days , he put to use the lessons learned during a 17 day Survival , Evasion , Resistance and Escape ( SERE ) training he had undertaken near his hometown of Spokane , WA . He ate leaves , grass , and bugs , and stored the little rainwater he could collect with a sponge in plastic bags . O ' Grady waited to radio for help , as the U . S . Air Force had taught him that downed pilots are often captured after calling for help too soon , giving away their position . ( It also allowed him time to figure out how to operate the radio , since not paying attention during pilot training sessions he was unfamiliar with it . ) On his fourth full day on the ground , he signaled his location using the small reserve of his radio ' s battery power each time he went on the air . NATO military planes conducting sorties in the Balkans had been picking up beeper snippets that they thought could be coming from O ' Grady . Unfortunately , this extremely sensitive piece of information was inadvertently revealed by General Ronald Fogleman , the Air Force Chief of Staff , when the General told reporters at a promotion ceremony one Monday that monitors had detected " intermittent " transmissions . A NATO official was quoted as saying " I was dumbfounded he said that . . . I mean , why not just announce to the bad guys , ' We think he ' s alive and kicking , and we hope we find him before you do ' ? " Rescue . Just after midnight on June 8 , he spoke into the radio . An F - 16 pilot from the 555th responded , and after confirming his identity , the rescue was set in motion . At 4 : 40 , Admiral Leighton Smith , commander of NATO Southern Forces , called US Marine Colonel Martin Berndt aboard the USS " Kearsarge " with orders to " execute . " Two CH - 53 Sea Stallion s with 51 Marines from the 3rd Battalion 8th Marines within the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit , lifted off the USS " Kearsarge " to rescue the pilot . The two helicopters were accompanied by two Marine AH - 1W SuperCobra helicopter gunships and a pair of Marine AV - 8B Harrier jump jets . These six aircraft had support from identical sets of replacement helicopters and jump jets as well as two Navy EA - 6B Prowler electronic warfare planes , two Marine F / A - 18D Hornet s , a pair of anti - tank Air Force A - 10 Warthogs and a NATO AWACS radar plane . At 6 : 35 a . m . , the helicopters approached the area where O ' Grady ' s signal beacon had been traced . The pilots saw bright yellow smoke coming from trees near a rocky pasture where O ' Grady had set off a flare . The first Stallion , commanded by Major William Tarbutton , touched down and 20 Marines jumped off the aircraft and set up a defensive perimeter . As the second Sea Stallion landed , a figure with a pistol who turned out to be the missing pilot appeared running towards the Marines and immediately went to the Sea Stallion . As the side door opened , he was pulled in before the second 20 Marines poised to leave by the rear ramp could even move . They were called back to their seats , and those who had formed the defensive perimeter reboarded the other helicopter . After a quick head count , the Stallions took off . They had been on the ground no more than seven minutes . Return . The Marines and their passenger were still flying low over Serb - held Bosnia as the threat was not yet over . American aircraft detected a Serb missile radar along the Croatian coast , scanning for targets . An American plane recommended destroying the Serb radar , code - named Giraffe . The request was denied , partly out of concern that a strike could spark wider conflict . Minutes later , the Marines reported they were under fire . Two shoulder - held surface - to - air missiles had been launched at them but missed , as the helicopter pilots — flying 150 feet off the ground at 175 mph — jinked to evade them . Serb small arms pocked both helicopters ; the Marines aboard heard the bullets hit inside the fuselage . One door gunner returned fire . One round hit some communication gear in the chopper and the bullet ended up against Master Sergeant Angel Castro Jr . ' s armor without injuring anyone . At 7 : 15 AM local time , 30 minutes after picking up O ' Grady , the rescuers reported " feet wet , " meaning they were over water . O ' Grady was back aboard the " Kearsarge " at 7 : 30 . All of the aircraft landed without further incident . Aftermath . On August 11 , 1995 , a USAF RQ - 1 Predator UAV was shot down by Serb forces in the same area . The Serbs recovered the wreckage and handed it over to Russia for technical evaluation . On 30 August , NATO launched Operation Deliberate Force , a massive airstrike campaign which eventually lifted the siege of Sarajevo and led to the end of the war in Bosnia . Personal life . O ' Grady was born in Brooklyn , New York City , New York , a son of William P . O ' Grady and Mary Lou Scardapane ( née Giustra , remarried ) , and graduated from Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane , Washington . He is a former cadet in the Civil Air Patrol and a 1989 Air Force ROTC graduate from Embry - Riddle Aeronautical University ' s campus in Prescott , Arizona . Three years after his rescue , O ' Grady transferred from active duty in the regular U . S . Air Force to the Air Force Reserve , where he continued to fly the F - 16 . In May 2007 , he completed a master ' s degree in biblical studies at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas , Texas . He resides in Frisco in Collin County , Texas . O ' Grady is an active Republican , having spoken at the 1996 Republican convention in support of Bob Dole . In 2004 , O ' Grady , supporting George W . Bush for re - election , accused Bush ' s opponent John Kerry of " treason " for actions taken during the Vietnam War . More recently O ' Grady endorsed Brian Birdwell in his successful 2010 bid for the Texas State Senate ; Birdwell is a recovered burn victim of the September 11 , 2001 attack on the Pentagon . On September 19 , 2011 , O ' Grady announced his own candidacy for the Texas statehouse , seeking the 2012 Republican nomination in Senate District 8 following the retirement of Sen . Florence Shapiro . But O ' Grady dropped out of the race in early 2012 , claiming Shapiro had reneged on a promise to support him in the primary . O ' Grady also cited the uncertainties over the Texas redistricting fight as a reason to suspend his campaign . In popular culture . The shootdown incident was depicted and described on the documentary television program " Situation Critical " in episode No . 5 , " " Downed Pilot . " " This has been shown on the National Geographic Channel . It was also covered in " " Escape ! – Escape From Bosnia : The Scott O ' Grady Story " " on the History Channel . BBC also made a documentary , titled " Missing in Action , " that was later purchased by 20th Century Fox and Discovery Communications . The 2001 film " Behind Enemy Lines " starring Gene Hackman and Owen Wilson , is loosely based on this event . Although O ' Grady had given it a positive rating on the film review television show " Hot Or Not , " O ' Grady took offense at the portrayal of ' his ' character in " Behind Enemy Lines " " as a pilot who disobeys orders and swears . " O ' Grady sued 20th Century Fox in 2002 for making the film without his permission . He also took action over the documentary , " Behind Enemy Lines : The Scott O ' Grady Story , " which was a reedited version of a BBC documentary which Discovery Communications , parent company of the Discovery Channel , had purchased and edited . The documentary was broadcast several times on the Discovery Channel , and O ' Grady accused Fox of using it to promote the film . Both suits were settled in 2004 . Fox made a confidential settlement with O ' Grady , while a Texas court ruled against O ' Grady and in favor of Discovery Communications . The judge ' s ruling stating , in effect , that the events in a person ' s life are not the same thing as that person ' s likeness or image . O ' Grady co - wrote two books , collaborating on one , with Michael French , that detailed his experiences of being shot down over Bosnia and his eventual rescue , " Basher Five - Two : The True Story of F - 16 Fighter Pilot Captain Scott O ' Grady . " He later wrote a book concerning the spiritual effects from his experience in " Return with Honor " with Jeff Coplon . Another book has also been written ; this one , " " Good To Go : " The Rescue of Capt . Scott O ' Grady , USAF , from Bosnia , " was written by Mary Pat Kelly .