Changing a plan at the last minute is one of the surest ways to create confusion and cause a mission to fail. Before I became a fighter pilot, I didn’t realize how much time and effort went into mission planning. It’s meant to be a joke, but it’s surprisingly accurate that mission planning takes as […]
What actually happens when fighter pilots take off their masks?
TechWhat happens if a fighter pilot takes off their mask? Movies like Independence Day and Top Gun portray it as a final act of desperation that’s strictly against regulation. But is this true? Before we get to the answer, let’s first look at the purpose of the mask. A fighter pilot’s mask is primarily used […]
Forget New Year’s Resolutions and set goals like a fighter pilot
Off DutyMy take on goal setting is different from what most experts recommend. The start of a new year is a time when many of us reflect on the previous year, and what we’d like to improve going forward. Growing up, I did what most of us are taught: Make SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and […]
How video games really can make you a better fighter pilot
Military AffairsDoes playing video games and desktop simulators, such as “Microsoft Flight Sim,” prepare you to become a fighter pilot? As a fighter pilot, much of our training takes place in a simulator, which is the ultimate video game. Stepping into these rooms, you’re dwarfed by a giant sphere that projects a 360-degree view of your […]
Approaching Mach 2 in an F-16: ‘The jet started to shake’
AirpowerAnything close to the maximum structural speed for a jet is usually just for the glossy brochure—99.9% of the time we don’t come close to reaching it. There was one time, though, that I pushed the F-16 as fast as it could go. I was stationed in Korea and there was a jet coming out […]
F-35 pilot explains how 1950s tech shot down a ‘stealth fighter’
FeaturedOne of the sayings we have in the fighter pilot community is that the enemy always gets a vote. What this means is that no matter how good your intel is, how smart you think you are, or how inferior the enemy appears to be, they always reserve the right to do something you aren’t […]
What it’s really like to push 9Gs in a dogfight flying the F-16
FeaturedIf you have any hope of winning, your strength has to be greater than your opponent’s weakness. As a young second lieutenant in pilot training, I learned that lesson the hard way. I was flying a Basic Fighter Maneuver Flight, also known as dogfighting. The objective was for me to point at my instructor, who […]
Burning 50,000 lbs of fuel per hour: Aerial refueling from a fighter pilot
TechThe development of aerial refueling was one of the greatest leaps in fighter lethality. A fighter, just like any aircraft, consists of hundreds of tradeoffs—cost, payload, speed, stealth, size, weight, maneuverability, the list goes on and on. But, the Achilles heel of fighters has always been their fuel consumption. At the heart of a modern […]
F-35 pilot: Forget drones, the skies still belong to fighter pilots
Military AffairsAs a fighter pilot, I have a lot of respect for what Elon Musk has accomplished. His ability to not adhere to dogma has allowed him to revolutionize two industries through SpaceX and Tesla. Much like a physicist, he relies on first-principle science to solve problems, which allows him to see things from a fresh […]
How flyovers work (from a fighter pilot who does them)
FeaturedFortunately, our wars are fought thousands of miles away, well out of danger for most Americans. Without flyovers or airshows, most wouldn’t get a chance to see our fighter force in person. It’s one thing to see these aircraft on the news, it is however, a completely different experience to feel an after-burning engine ripping […]
