G-forces don’t translate to the big screen, or to video games, but they are a major aspect of flying fighters. Movies like Top Gun show the characters easily moving around the cockpit while chatting on the radio during a dogfight. In reality, during a sharp turn under peak G, you’re spending the majority of your […]
Justin “Hasard” Lee: Why I wanted to fly the F-35
Military AffairsIn this article, I’ll be discussing the current paradigm of air combat and what makes fifth-generation aircraft special. If you haven’t had a chance to read my previous article on what an aircraft generation is, and how we got here, make sure to give it a read for some important background information. In 2017, I […]
An F-35 pilot breaks down each fighter generation
Military AffairsI hear the term “fighter generation” a lot these days, such as Fourth-gen or Fifth-gen. What does that mean? It’s a great question. A fighter generation is a period of time where aircraft were designed and built with similar technology, under a similar philosophy. There’s no clear-cut distinction between generations—engineers simply build the best aircraft […]
The gravity of the situation: How to fly a fighter upside down
Military AffairsWhat happens when you fly upside down in a fighter jet? Does everything fall-up and hit the windshield? That’s a great question. As fighter pilots, we go upside down all the time. However, we rarely maneuver the jet so that objects float, or “fall-up.” When we turn, we start by rolling in the direction we […]
Why even F-35 pilots still have to fly ‘by the seat of their pants’
FeaturedBeing able to fly by the seat of your pants is still an important skill for a fighter pilot. Although modern fighters have an incredible array of sensors that feed them real-time information out to the horizon, a good pilot still listens to how the aircraft is talking to them. When aircraft were introduced in […]
What it’s like to hit the afterburner in an F-16 for the first time
FeaturedThe first time you select afterburner in a fighter is an experience you’ll never forget. Over a decade later, I can still remember every second of it. I had made it through the attrition of pilot training and was now in the 9-month B-Course learning to fly the F-16. After several months of academics—going over […]
How do fighter pilots pee while flying?
Off DutyAs a fighter pilot, one of the most common questions I get is: How do you go to the bathroom in an F-16 or F-35? Let me start off by describing the cockpit. A cockpit in a modern fighter is an engineering masterpiece. An incredible amount of effort goes into allowing us to interface with […]
Why you should play sports if you want to be a fighter pilot
CareerLooking back, sports prepared me for flying fighters more than anything else. You develop thick skin playing sports—you learn how to lose, how to accept criticism, how to prepare, how to handle pressure; you grow you in a way that’s difficult to find outside of sports. Different sports teach different attributes, particularly team versus individual […]
An F-35 pilot explains why the jet’s bad press misses the point
Military AffairsThere’s no other jet I’d want to go into combat in than the F-35A, the Air Force’s newest supersonic stealth fighter. As a fighter pilot who’s flown several variants of the legendary F-16 as well as the F-35, I can say that, between the two aircraft, it’s not even a close competition. Comparing the two […]
Learn the art of self discipline from an F-35 pilot instructor
CareerSelf-discipline: the ability to make yourself do things that should be done. How do you know if you have it? The coronavirus shutdown has given us a window into our character. Social events are cancelled and work has gone remote—most people have a lot more time on their hands. What have you done with it? […]
