ABC Reporter Flies Shotgun on F-15 Combat Mission

[Matt Molnar]

After months of training, getting a temporary secret clearance and probably signing 10,000 waivers, Martha Raddatz from ABC News was allowed to sit in the back seat of a USAF F-15E loaded with real bombs on a real combat mission over Afghanistan.

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Afghanistan/fl ... d=10741556 (http://abcnews.go.com/WN/Afghanistan/flying-air-force-15-fighter-jet-combat-mission/story?id=10741556)

[ulikeairplanes2]

To say I'm jealous is an understatement. Very cool, though. It's fun to see these things going on from the inside.

[USAF Pilot 07]

Fighter rides are overrated. :yawn:

[cancidas]

when john stienbeck worked as a war correspondent in WWII and went along on secret commando raids in the med he was almost tossed out of the program and ended up under the investigation of the FBI.

clark i agree, most fighters aren't my cup of tea either. i have to say though if i could get a chance to fly in an F-15 i'd probably sell my arms to do it. that airplane is by far my fav fighter ever built, comparable only to my love for the Mig-29.

[USAF Pilot 07]

clark i agree, most fighters aren't my cup of tea either. i have to say though if i could get a chance to fly in an F-15 i'd probably sell my arms to do it. that airplane is by far my fav fighter ever built, comparable only to my love for the Mig-29.

I was supposed to get a ride in a Strike Eagle in Alaska through the canyons up there, but that ended up falling through. That would have been a blast!

I did get a ride in a F-16 though doing Basic Fighter Maneuvers (basically 9G turns all over the place the whole time) and it was fun and unlike anything else I'd done, but I really had no desire to do it again after it. That, combined with a lot of the people representing the "fighter community" and the fact that they are a dying breed moving on to UAVs, really helped me know that from day 1 of flight school I wanted heavies (more specifically the KC-10), and had T38s (the fighter/bomber track) 3rd on my dreamsheet when we split off into the different tracks.
After having dragged fighters across the globe I don't regret the decision when I see them confined to that small space for 8+ hours straight. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't get up, go cook a pizza, take a piss in a bathroom or go take a nap in the crew bunks! I think the formation stuff would be a lot of fun though.
Anyway, I digress.....

[cancidas]

I did get a ride in a F-16 though doing Basic Fighter Maneuvers (basically 9G turns all over the place the whole time) and it was fun and unlike anything else I'd done, but I really had no desire to do it again after it. That, combined with a lot of the people representing the "fighter community" and the fact that they are a dying breed moving on to UAVs, really helped me know that from day 1 of flight school I wanted the KC-10, and had T38s (the fighter/bomber track) 3rd on my dreamsheet when we split off into the different tracks. I think the formation stuff would be a lot of fun though.

formation is a blast. had i gone your route i'd probably have either done everything in my power to get a rotor slot or gone on to something like a C-17 or C-130. AC-130 would have been uber cool!!

you're right that fighters are i dying breed. this month's Air & Space has a great article about the F-15C based in Utah. even there it mentions that the F-22 and F-35 (if it ever arrives) will more than likely be the last piloted fighters built. UAVs are NOT fun.

[USAF Pilot 07]

you're right that fighters are i dying breed. this month's Air & Space has a great article about the F-15C based in Utah. even there it mentions that the F-22 and F-35 (if it ever arrives) will more than likely be the last piloted fighters built. UAVs are NOT fun.

Yea, and what sucks for a lot of the fighter guys is that a lot of them are not staying in the community. They are going to their 16 or C model for an assignment (sometimes less) and then getting non-voled to the UAV where no one has really left to go back to a manned aircraft in the past 5 years. There is such a high demand for UAVs, and because they are required to be piloted by rated pilots, a lot of people are going there, and because the demand is so high, and the newer guys need training, no one is leaving.

Also out of a typical flight school class between 4-6 students go T38s. Out of those students 1-2 usually drop a UAV (not great odds). It's just part of the reason there has been somewhat of a shift among pilot training students to what used to be everyone wanting to fly fighters to now some of the top guys wanting the T-1 or getting talked into the T38.