The Air Force released details Feb. 9 of an incident last year, in which the crew of a KC-135 Stratotanker escorted an F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter to safety. The F-16 had reported a fuel emergency while flying above territory in Iraq occupied by Islamic State fighters. Bailing out would have subjected the pilot to risk of capture and execution. The tanker, attached to the 384th Air Refueling Squadron, described how the F-16 pilot reported that more than 80 percent of his fuel capacity was “trapped and unusable.” The tanker refueled the fighter every 15 minutes until they safely returned to its base, and then resumed its scheduled missions for that day.