I know he was stationed there before and after 9/11. He served during Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. I am not sure when he was first stationed there. He eventually went to Pensacola as a flight instructor.
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Yeah, they were another of my boyhood favorites!
When i was leaving Hawaii after a dive trip i got to see a couple of F-22’s take off. Now THEY are some sleek looking machines so much power and grace. Throw the F-35 in the bin and max out on the F-22!
So they should, i got to talk with a serving Russian Army Officer and he said the A-10 gave their tactical planners nightmares
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Hehehe, because of that straight wing they have a short runway roll out, good for battle area runways.Their ability to dwell, unlike the fast jets make them superior for close air support.
Yeah, from the pictures I’ve seen those F-22s look slick looking. Never saw one fly.
The climb on them was like nothing i have seen before.
They just LOOK awesome and seem to have the grunt to be awesome.
Got to play with every U.S. Navy jet or helicopter in the inventory over 47 years, from the very old F-8 Crusader to all the most recent versions of the F-35. Walked away from the job in March. Gonna feel real weird when I read the Navy has tested an aircraft that I haven’t touched.
Edit: Oops, been awhile. Had typed Intruder instead of Crusader. Though honestly can’t ever remember calling any aircraft by the name instead of number. Just realized I didn’t even know what the F-35 was called (Lightning II) and had worked that program for more than 10 years. Glad I caught it first or the A-6 folks would be upset.
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Congratulations on surviving Earth long enough to reach retirement! And Thanks for all your work on behalf of US Naval Aviation.
Retired, this laser adventure is something we have in common, somewhere to point ourselves.
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Just about every day A10s flying out of Whiteman AFB pass over my house or my office. Always makes me grin and send a prayer their way.
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My fav was always the B-2. As a kid, we used to drive to Minnesota every summer for vacation and I can remember sometime in the mid-late 80s, a B-2 flying low and slow across the highway near Omaha, NE. That made quite an impression.
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I saw one fly out of Hawaii, they are slick birds!
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Man, I’m totally in love with the F-14. I’ve seen just one, aboard the USS Intrepid and I think I left a piece of my heart there.
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So many accidents bringing that one to the fleet. Bill Miller a Grumman test pilot was at the controls for more than one F-14A crash. Watched his plane dip and explode into the Chesapeake Bay in 1972. Miller was killed. Remember sitting in a class at the Test Pilot School when the instructor said, “look to the guy on your left and now look at the guy on your right. One of you will die as a test pilot.” He wasn’t wrong for the times. Fortunately Flight Testing has become a lot safer in the past 45 years.
BTW: not a pilot, was a flight test engineer. The Test Pilot School allowed a couple of us in each new class.
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I didn’t realize the aircraft had trouble initially. I think the turbo fan engine design was fairly new, and the variable wing I could see as potentially problematic.
Our sense of smell is a strong memory trigger. 20 years ago we went to an air show, and a Tomcat sat on the line. I got within 50 feet of it and the smell of JP hit me. The smell of a carrier.
I could almost hear the sound of the catapults and the arresting gear that permeated the ship during operations.
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Only Cat and Trapped one time. A C-2. A check mark on the bucket list. One week on the Nimitz sleeping with flight operations in what seemed next to my head was enough for me. Of course I was a long haired hippie at the time. Didn’t exactly fit in with the crew.
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I was too - only disguised with a regulation haircut and the working uniform of the day.
Landing is the only aspect of commercial flying that I am a bit anxious about.
Really wasn’t anxious about the cat shot, but if my flight was to be trapped I think I would have been a nervous wreck. Glad to have experienced a carrier launch, but I’m fine with leaving this life without an arrested carrier landing.
Did the guys on either side of you go “urp! not gonna be him”?
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I even built my own. I inked every body line on it with a rapidograph.
I would have preferred VF-1 but the decals didn’t offer that option. These markings reflect a bird attached to Miramar. Top Gun training.
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Oh wow, can’t believe you hand drew those lines! 
Easier, the panels were all indented. All I had to do was drag a pen through them.
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A friend of mine tested the B-2 bomber. saw video of him getting out and getting doused with Champagne.
btw, he said it was awesome to fly it. 
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