Flying With the Thunderbirds

It's not often you get to ride shotgun in an F-16 fighter jet but I was lucky enough to get that...  More »

It's not often you get to ride shotgun in an F-16 fighter jet but I was lucky enough to get that chance on Friday. The day before the United Air Force Thunderbirds took to the sky for an aerial performance at Northern Neighbors Day I got to go up in the air for the ride of my life. But before I could take to the sky I first had to prepare on the ground... After months of waiting, excitement mixed with a little anxiety my moment of truth had finally arrived. The day I get to fly with the United States Air Force thunderbirds. But before I could climb into the cockpit, I first had to go through some training to prepare myself for the ride of a lifetime. (Tech Sgt. Bob Stephens, USAF Thunderbirds) The first thing is your anti-G suit. It pushes the blood from the leg back up to the heart and the brain because during positive G's blood runs from the head and heart to the feet. Which hopefully will help keep me from passing out during high speed maneuvers. With the G-Suit snugly around my waist and legs it was on to the harness. (Stephens) This is actually what connects you to the ejection seat. (Shaun Sipma, KX News) Wow, now that's uncomfortable. Lastly my true red, white, and blue Thunderbird flight helmet.. (Stephens) This is the exact same helmet that the thunderbird pilots fly with. Not a bad fit if I do say so myself. With all my equipment now ready and fitted it was on to a physical from an Air Force doctor. (Air Force Doctor) I can't find anything wrong with you. So far so good. With an A Okay stamp that I could physical handle the flight I finally got to meet my Pilot., Major Tad Clark, Thunderbird number eight. (Maj. Tad Clark, USAF Thunderbird #8) I have two goals for today. Goal number one is I want you to have a fun and safe flight today. Objective number two is I really want you to have a opportunity to see first hand behind the scenes of all the different jobs and people that make up this team the thunderbirds because we're representative of the men and women in the Air Force. Objectives in place we mapped out our flight and T.C. took me through the different maneuvers that we would be doing and what I would expect to experience inside the F-16. (Maj. Clark) And we're going to do four rolls in three seconds just as fast as we can go. I'm going to say here we go with the rolls pop the nose up and there's one, two, three, four back to wings level. Was I nervous? oh yeah, Excited Absolutely. After three and half hours of preparation it was finally time to head to the flightline. But truthfully I couldn't even begin to image what I was about to experience. I'll take you along on my ride of a lifetime tomorrow. With the Thunderbirds, Shaun Sipma KX News.  « Less