Lessons From The Cockpit

Welcome to the sixty-fifth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! 

I received word this week my book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit is now on the four-star commander of Air Mobility Command General Mike Minihan's "Leadership Library" reading list under the heading We Are the Maneuver. I'm grateful and humbled General Minihan thinks enough of my book to be included on his first published list.

In February of last year, I gave my listeners a reading list of great books in the episode called "Book of the Month Club". This episode updates my reading list based on some of the current events going on around the world with the war between Russia and Ukraine, the use of drones in the same conflict and our Reaper drones being assaulted over Syria, and some of the current operations ongoing in the Pacific and Europe. I expect in the coming months I will add more to the list to expand your understanding of air operations and lessons learned to improve critical thinking skills both in the air and on the ground. My new list includes the following books that are linked to Amazon if you want to add the to your library:

Hunter Killer by Mark McCurley

Blue Moon over Cube by William Ecker

Jawbreaker by Gary Berntsen

Shooter by Jack Coughlin

Razor 03 by Al Mack

Scream of Eagles by Robert Wilcox

The Air Campaign by John Warden

12 Strong by Doug Stanton

To Win the Winter Sky by Danny Parker

The First and the Last by Adolf Galland

Support for the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast comes from the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit found on Amazon in all four formats; Hardback, Softback with black and white pictures, Kindle and Audible. The electronic versions of the book download with an extra file of the thirty-two pictures included in the book.

Custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger can be purchased from Wall Pilot. These are highly detailed profile views of aircraft from World War II to fifth gen fighters printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. There are 132 Ready-to-Print graphics and Wall Pilot can do custom aircraft profiles with names, units, tail codes and weapons loads. Order one or two Wall Pilot graphics from the website.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode of books I'm reading. This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast are available on my www.markhasara.com website.

 

 

Welcome to the sixty-fourth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! I am your host Mark Hasara, Air Force vet and KC-135 pilot.

Colonel Mark Waite took a very interesting route to fill one of the most critical positions in the Air Force as Airborne Battle Manager, surveilling the air over a battlefield and directing fighters and bombers to targets. Boner was a Senior Director in the E-3 AWACS on the opening night of Desert Storm. He's a graduate of the US Air Force's Weapons School and later an instructor in the Command and Control division. Some of his most interesting lessons learned come from serving in the Al Udied CAOC during the Afghan elections and now working in the cyberspace world, both offensively and defensively.

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is financially supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Over one hundred thirty incredibly detailed Ready-to-Print side view profiles of famous aircraft are available on the www.wallpilot.com website, in four, six, and eight-foot-long prints.

The E-3C Airborne Warning and Control System or AWACS aircraft from the 961st ACCS based at Kadena Air Base where Mark was stationed is available in the Ready-to-Print section.

The RC-135 Rivet Joint provides battlefield electronic and signals intelligence to commanders and a Ready-to-Print graphic of the 38th Reconnaissance Squadron, the new RJ with the CFM56 engines is available on the Wall Pilot website.

The U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane works closely with the other Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft on the battlefield through datalinks which Mark discussed in the podcast. The U-2R Dragon Lady continues to fly ISR missions all over the world at 70 years of age!

The F-15E Strike Eagle was one of the airplanes in the Close Air Support role during the Afghan elections and this 335th Fighter Squadron Strike Eagle is loaded for that typical CAS role.

The B-1B Lancer bomber carried out CAS missions during the war in Afghanistan. This B-1B graphic is the 77th Weapons Squadron flagship, a division of the US Air Force Weapons School.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this of the LEssons from the Cockpit podcast, found on the www.markhasara.com website under the Podcast pulldown tab. The previous sixty-three episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit show can be downloaded from my www.markhasara.com website.

 

Welcome to the sixty-third episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! I'm your host Mark Hasara, retired KC-135 pilot and veteran of four wars.

On Tuesday 27 June 2023, the Air Force celebrated a 100-year anniversary. On 27 June 1923 was an event making aviation history! For the first time, fuel was transferred from one DeHavilland DH-4B Biplane to another DH-4B Biplane flown by Captain Lowell Smith and 1Lt John Richter over Rockwell Field on North Island near San Diego California. 1Lt Virgil Hine and 1Lt Frank Siefert flew the DH-4B tanker which John Richter had reconfigured with a 40-foot hose. Air Mobility Command celebrated the centennial of air refueling with Operation Centennial Contact, KC-10, KC-46, and KC-135 tankers flying over all fifty states passing gas to receivers.

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Over one hundred sixty extremely detailed Ready-to-Print aircraft profiles are available in four, six, and eight-foot-long graphics, reproduced on vinyl you can peel off and stick t any flat surface. Wall Pilot will also create your favorite airplanes in custom profiles with your name, unit, tail codes, and weapons load. Wall Pilot even did a thirty-footer for one customer. Go to www.wallpilot.com and purchase one or two of these incredible prints.

The KB-50 tanker was Tactical Air Command's front-line tanker for many years. A 420th Air Refueling Squadron KB-50J stationed in the United Kingdom.

The 909th Air Refueling Squadron has been stationed on the island of Okinawa for decades, flying the KC-135A and upgraded in 1991 to the KC-135R Model. The Young Tiger Tanker Task Force flew missions supporting air operations over North Vietnam.

KC-10A Extender has flown with the 60th Air Mobility Wing from Travis Air Force Base since the mid-1980s after moving from March Field in southern California. This KC-10A was assigned to the 9th Air Refueling Squadron and is available in the Ready-to-Print section of Wall Pilot's website.

The United Kingdom's Royal Air Force purchased the Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport as has many other nations. This A330 Voyager MRTT flies with the RAF's 10 Squadron out of RAF Brize-Norton airfield.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, which can be found on my website at www.markhasara.com under the PODCAST pull-down menu.

 

Welcome to the sixty-third episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit Podcast! I'm your host Mark Hasara, a retired KC-135 pilot of the United States Air Force.

After five fantastic years and the greatest flying assignment of my career at Kadena Air Base on the island of Okinawa Japan, it was time for an assignment change of station or PCS. I took a Headquarters assignment to a location all of us in the Young Tiger Tanker Squadron laughed at because they had absolute control over all air mobility operations around the world except us at the 909th! This assignment became one of those tremendous learning experiences of my Air Force career. I left this assignment feeling bulletproof in my knowledge and capabilities. This assignment gave me additional experience and expertise needed to help in my next assignment working with a great team creating and standing up the KC-135 Weapons School in the fall of 1997.

 The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported and financed by the book Tanker Pilot found in all four formats, hardback, softback, Kindle, and Audible on Amazon. Tanker Pilot gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at air refueling operations in four wars and numerous air operations. Thirty-two pictures taken during the operations discussed in the book are included. All pictures in the softback version are in black and white, and color in the other three.

Lessons from the Cockpit is also financed by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Profile graphics of aircraft printed four, six, and eight feet long on vinyl can be peeled off and stuck on any flat surface. There are 129 Ready-to-Print aircraft profiles extensively researched and very detailed available on the website. Wall Pilot can create your name, tail codes and numbers, and weapons load on your favorite aircraft/ Take a look at some of the custom profiles Wall Pioot has done for customer hangers, one thirty feet long! Please go to www.wallpilot.com and purchase one or two of these incredible graphics for your walls.

For over twenty-four years I flew the KC-135 Stratotanker available as a Ready-to-Print graphic. A 909th Young Tiger Tanker Task Force KC-135R Model in the old SHAMU scheme or current Air Mobility Command Grey can be found at these links.

The KC-10 Extender acts as both a tanker and airlifter flying support missions all over the world. KC-10A Extender profiles from Travis AFB and McGuire AFB are available at these links.

In the summer of 2022, Air Mobility Command christened a Charleston AFB South Carolina C-17A Globemaster III "Spirit of the Candy Bomber" in memorium to Colonel Gail Halvorsen, the famous Beling Airlift Candy Bomber.

Little Rock AFB is the Center of Excellence for Air Mobility Commands Tactical Airlift fleet. A C-130J or Arkansas Air Nationa Guard C-130H from Little Rock AFB is available in Wall Pilot's Ready-to-Print section. 

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! This and previous episodes of the podcast can be found on my website at markhasara.com. If you have an hour or so during a morning or afternoon commute while stuck in traffic, the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast has some great stories and lessons learned for you to listen to!

 

Welcome to the sixty-second episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast and I'm your host Mark Hasara, a former Air Force KC-135 pilot, flying all over the world passing gas!

Recently I had a conversation with a colleague on how far the Air Force tanker community had come since Deseet Stomr and the old Strategic Air Command days of the Single Integrated Operations Plan, the nuclear war plan. I felt the tanker community during Desert Storm was not prepared for high-density, high-ops-tempo air refueling operations because it wasn't our primary focus. This episode lays out what I feel are the air refueling lessons learned during the Desert Storm air campaign. 

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is sponsored and financially supported by the book Tanker Pilot found on Amazon which can be purchased in hardback, softback (photos in black and white), Kindle, and Audible (extra file contains the color pictures).

Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger has many of the aircraft of Desert Storm available in four, six, and eight-foot-long graphics printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. Wall Pilto also creates custom aircraft artwork at the website wallpilot.com 

The 58th Tactical Fighter Squadron shot down the most Iraqi Air Force MiG and Mirage aircraft during the Desert Storm air campaign. This F-15C was flown by Captain Cesar "Rico" Rodriguez on his two MiG Kill missions.

On the first night of the Desert Storm air campaign, my KC-135 crew refueled COORS 31-34 flight of F-4G Wild Weasels, commanded by Lt Col George "John Boy" Walton flying this F-4G tail number that night.

The EF-111A Spark Vark jamming aircraft was part of the Iraqi Integrated Air Defense Network takedown flying with COORS 31 flight and their four F-4G Wild Weasels.

This 335th Tac Fighter Squadron F-15E dropped a 2000 lbs GBU-10 laser-guided bomb on a hovering helicopter and is now the Chief's squadron flagship.

Large groups of F-111F Aardvarks spread out through Iraqi using laser and tv guided weapons to destroy possible chemical weapons facilities armed like this F-111F from the 494th Tactical Fighter Squadron from the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing based at RAF Lakenheath England.

The USS John F Kennedy airwing had two squadrons of Vought Corsair II attack aircraft loaded the first night with AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles or HARM like this VA-72 Blue Hawks A-7E. 

The 17th Tac Fighter Squadron deployed in their F-16C Fighting Falcons to Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE flying thousands of missions during Desert Storm.

Strategic Air Command and Pacific Air Forces deployed 211 KC-135 Stratotankers to the Gulf Region during Operation Desert Storm. This KC-135R Model flew with the 909th Air Refueling Squadron based in Okinawa Japan.

Thanks for downloading this episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website at markhasara.com.

Welcome to the sixty-first episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! 

The Defense Department Budget is out and there are a number of aircraft coming into the inventory and a lot going to the Boneyard at Davis Monthan AFB Arizona. Platforms that I refueled from my KC-135 are going to be gone soon, and I voice my concerns about some of the aircraft being cut out of the inventory. My biggest concern is the health of the tanker fleet of course. There are some new aircraft on the horizon also and some of them are cosmic!

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported and financed by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit available on Amazon in all four formats; hardback, softback, Kindle, and Audible. The softback edition has pictures in black and white, and the hardback, Kindle, and Audible have pictures in color.

Aircraft spoken about in this episode are available from Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These are very detailed profiles of famous aircraft you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. Go take a look at the 128 Ready-to-Print profiles from World War II aircraft to modern aircraft. Wall Pilot can also create a graphic of your favorite aircraft with your name, unit, tail codes, and weapons loadout.

One of my favorite aircraft and fortunately have been able to fly in is the F-15. The 44th Fighter Squadron Vampires were recently deactivated at Kadena Air Base Okinawa and this Eagle jet was one of their jets that deployed to the Middle East with the CHAOS nose art. 

This 64th Aggressor Squadron F-16C was named WRAITH because of its black paint scheme. I like this black Darth Vader scheme!

 The KC-10 Extender inventory will be reduced by 10 aircraft this year. The KC-10 has been called the "Gucci Bird" because of its nice ride. This is a Gucci Bird from the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis AFB California.

The E-3B Airborne Warning and Control System or AWACS aircraft from the 961st Air Control Squadron is based at Kadena Air Base Okinawa. The AWACS will be replaced by some future platform, probably the 737 Wedgetail flown by other Air Forces.

The B-1B Lancer bomber has been a workhorse of the Global War on Terror, nicknamed The Bone. This B-1B is the flagship of the 77th Weapons Squadron, the US Air Force Weapons School Bone division based at Dyess Air Force Base Texas.

Thanks for downloading and listening to my podcast. We are over 15,000 downloads now and I appreciate all of you who listen. This and previous episodes of the Lesson from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website at markhasara.com

 

 

 

Welcome to the sixtieth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! 

I've been reluctant to discuss current events but felt this was a good topic since the US Military has accomplished four Non-Combatant Evacuations or NEOs from four US Embassies in the last three years; Afghanistan, Ukraine, Belarus, and as of last week Khartoum Sudan. Instructing at the Joint Forces Staff College I taught US and International students Humanitarian Operations and we did an exercise on NEOs. This episode explains why NEOs are one of the most intense and potentially dangerous missions the US military and often our allies get involved with. When a US Ambassador calls saying get us out, NEOs are how we do it.

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These are detailed and exhaustively researched profile graphics printed on vinyl of your favorite airplanes you can peel off and stick on any flat surface. Go look at the 129 Ready-to-Print profiles or let us custom draw your favorite aircraft with your name, tail codes, and weapons load on the plane. We also do unit patches that are weather-resistant and stick on the windows of your vehicles.

The Lockheed C-130 has been involved in numerous NEOs and this C-130J from Little Rock AFB represents the current US Air Force version of the Hercules.

The C-17 Globemaster II was the workhorse of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. This Charleston AFB C-17A was one of the last US Air Force aircraft to leave the country with 825 people on the cargo floor!

The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper drone is the mainstay of the US Air Force drone program. This MQ-9 Reaper flies with the 867th Attack Squadron out of Creech AFB near Indian Springs Nevada. 

Thanks for downloading and listening to this sixtieth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website at markhasara.com under the Podcast Pulldown menu.

Thanks again for listening and we'll talk to you next week!

Welcome to the fifty-ninth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! I'm your host Mark Hasara, retired Air Force KC-135 pilot and airplane nerd!

I've been asked numerous times what my thoughts are on the leaked classified documents from the Department of Defense and Pentagon. I'm still scratching my head about how a 21-year-old Airman had access to these documents, particularly CIA Ops Center Reports. The documents were very recent looking at the dates and shed some very interesting light on a number of events happening around the world, particularly the Chinese spy balloon and a scary incident between Russian SU-27 Flankers and a Royal Air Force (RAF) RC-135 Rivet Joint electronic intelligence plane over the Black Sea.

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is financially supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These very detailed profile graphics are printed on vinyl in four, six, or eight-foot-long prints you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. Go to wallpilot.com and order from 128 Ready-to-Print aircraft or let us draw your favorite aircraft with your name under the canopy, unit, tail codes, and weapons load. Aircraft from WW II to fifth-gen fighters are available.

A four, six, or eight-foot print of the RC-135 Rivet Joint is available for those who crewed this incredible intelligence and reconnaissance aircraft.

A Hawaiian Air Nation Guard F-22 similar to the 27th Fighter Squadron Raptor that shot down the Chinese spy balloon is also available in the Ready-to-Print section of wallpilot.com

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode on the classified documents leak. Just my opinion here mind you. This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast are available to download and listen to from my website at markhasara.com 

Welcome to the fifty-eighth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. We are going to talk about nukes since there is so much about a possible WW III in all the media. 

President Ronald Reagan created the world's best nuclear deterrent capability in Strategic Air Command as he poured money into the military after years of neglect. The timeframe from when I showed up at the 509th Air Refueling Squadron in 1985 to 1990 when I left Pease as it was closing was a great time to be a KC-135 pilot at Portsmouth New Hampshire. I was flying an airplane I loved, doing a critical Air Force mission that was fun, and got to take a T-37 up whenever I could find another Copilot to go with me. It was a golden age of flying in my career. But still very dangerous as every third week I would go into an underground nuclear-hardened bunker and sit on Single Integrated Operations Plan or SIOP alert with six FB-111As carrying four nukes and five to six tankers to refuel them on their mission of Armaggedon.

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is sponsored by the Amazon Best-Selling book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit found in all four formats... Hardback, Softback, Kindle, and Audible. Twenty-two chapters give readers a behind-the-scenes look at global air operations from a KC-135.

Visit Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. You can choose from four, six, and eight-foot-long aircraft profiles printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. These are very detailed prints of famous aircraft so please go to wallpilot.com and order one or two prints for your walls. Wall Pilot does custom artwork and patches too. Our products are weather resistant... one customer put his F-15 squadron patches on his boat and they stayed put and didn't fade!

I loved flying the KC-135 Stratotanker and my assignment to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa was the best flying experience of my career... where I learned the most.

The FB-111A was the SAC version of the swing-wing fighter bomber made famous during Desert Storm. This is a print of the FB-111A from Pease AFB I sat alert with many times.

The B-58 Hustler named Cowtown Hustler set the speed record for flight from LA to New York and back to LA setting seven speed records until the SR-71 Blackbird came along.

The E-6A Mercury Take Charge and Move Out or TACAMO aircraft was flown by the Navy and used for command and control of the submarine forces.

The SR-71 Blackbird was SAC's very special and very fast reconnaissance platform moving at over Mach 3+! The Okinawans called it Habu, after a poisonous snake on the island because it looked so much like the reptile.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website markhasara.com

 

Welcome to the fifty-seventh episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! This episode is an anniversary episode.

This past week marked twenty years since the opening of Operation Iraqi Freedom's Shock and Awe air campaign, a term those of us involved never used. To those planning and executing air operations, it was Air Tasking Order Oscar or ATO O. The Combined Air Operations Center Air Refueling Control Team which I led went through six weeks of hell preparing for the opening  A-Day and H-Hour, Friday night 21 March 2003 at 9 pm local Baghdad time. In this episode, you will hear the background stories of how the air refueling team got to that Friday night air schwacking of Iraq, from Friday 14 March to what you saw a week later on all the news media on 21 March. It looked like everything was going smoothly but no, it wasn't. The tanker force was not in place until Sunday 23 March.

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is sponsored by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit found in all four formats; hardback, softback, Kindle, and Audible. Thirty-two pictures taken during events described in the book are contained in the pages, some taken by the author and some taken by the receivers.

 Prints of aircraft participating in the opening night of Iraqi Freedom can be found at Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These are four, six, or eight-foot-long aircraft profiles printed on vinyl which can be peeled off or framed and placed on any flat surface.

The F-15E Strike Eagle was tasked to support Close Air Support to the Third Infantry Division in their march to Baghdad. This F-15E carries the weapons load normally used on such CAS missions.

The F-16CJ Wild Weasel took part in the Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD) and the Destruction of Enemy Air Defenses on the opening night when the Baghdad Super Missile Engagement Zone had to be destroyed.

The F-16CJs were supported in their mission by the RC-135 Rivet Joint, an electronic intelligence collection platform used to identify, classify, and locate Saddam's SAM systems.

The E-3B Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System or AWACS was the Air Battlefield Manger platform for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Air Mobility Command KC-10 Extender was critical to the air refueling system for Operation Iraqi Freedom because they could refuel both Boom or Drogue-equipped aircraft and were air refuelable, allowing the KC-10 to be filled up during flight.

Go by my Lt Col Mark Hasara TikTok page to see short 15 to 30-second aviation and military videos that educate and entertain. Some are pretty incredible!

Thanks to all of my listeners for downloading this and previous episodes of the podcast. I really do appreciate it! This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website at markhasara.com

Welcome to the fifty-sixth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!  I really appreciate all of you tuning in and downloading this and previous episodes of the show.

One of the great memories of my KC-135 career was flying at low altitude with a receiver behind us. My first introduction to the planning and execution of low-altitude refueling was at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa. All of our 909th Air Refueling Squadron tanker crews were certified to do this technique and procedure. This episode discusses the whys and hows of low-altitude air refueling with examples from training and actual combat. The lowest we'd go in the KC-135 is 3000 feet above the terrain, typically refueling the A-10 at 9000 to 10,000 feet. One international Air Force established the record for the lowest altitude refueling on an operational mission in one of the most daring and successful air strikes in the history of aerial warfare!

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is financed by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These are very detailed profiles of aircraft printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. One hundred twenty-seven Ready-to-Print profiles are available in four, six, and eight-foot-long prints. If there is a favorite aircraft you'd like to have your name, unit, tail codes, and weapons load, we can create a custom print for you too. The form is on the website.

A 909th Air Refueling Squadron KC-135 R Model print is available in the Ready-to-Print section here. 

The KC-10 has also done low-altitude air refueling. A print of a Travis AFB KC-10 from the 60th Air Mobility Wing is available in the Ready-to-Print section here. 

An F-4E of the 3rd TFS based at Clark Air Base in The Philippines which flew missions during Operation Desert Storm from Incirlik Air Base Turkey and participated in the 1989 GUNSMOKE bombing and gunnery competition at Nellis AFB can be purchased here.

Thanks for downloading this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, found on my website at markhasara.com.

We look forward to talking with you next week!

  

Welcome to the fifty-fifth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! Thanks for downloading and listening.

A three-inch thick manila folder on my desk in my new assignment to the Air Mobility Command Director of Operations or AMC/DO staff ended up being the worst four years of my career and yet the most rewarding looking back on it. This graduate-level curriculum changed the way the US Air Force air refueling community did business... right before 9/11! And nobody wanted us! I was second in command of the Initial Cadre of eighteen airmen tasked with creating the KC-135 Weapons School, now the 509th Weapons Squadron. Twenty-five years later, the 509th Weapons School has produced over 200 graduates. 

This episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is sponsored by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit, found in all four formats; Hardback, Softback, Kindle, and Audible. Thirty-two pictures taken during air refueling operations are contained in the book. Please buy one or two copies as sales keep the podcast financed and running.

Four, six, and eight-foot-long profiles of aircraft involved in the US Air Force Weapons School printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface can be found at Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Wall Pilot can create custom profiles of your favorite aircraft with your name, unit patches, tail number, and weapons loads by going to the website and filling out the custom profile print form.

A print of the KC-135 with the 909th ARS markings can be purchased here.

Prints of the 57th Wing Flagship, an F-15C Eagle based at Nellis Air Force Base Nevada, home of the US Air Force Weapons School, can be purchased here. The 65th Aggressor Squadron's F-15C Eagles in the Flanker and Splinter paint schemes are also available from Wall Pilot.

Prints of Nellis AFB 64th Aggressor Squadron F-16Cs in the all-black Wraith,  the Splinter, the Digital, and the Flogger paint schemes are available at Wall Pilot. 

Thanks to all of you for downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, found on the Mark Hasara website under the Podcast pulldown.

Welcome to the fifty-fourth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. I've waited to post this one because so much aviation history is happening over the US!

Over the last weekend in Joint military operations, US Air Force F-22 Raptors and F-16C Vipers shot down the Chinese Spy Balloon and three additional objects, one over Lake Huron with an interesting description.  This episode contains the audio from the Spy Balloon shoot-down on 4 Feb and the object "decommissioned" on Sunday 12 Feb. A lot of questions I raise are still unanswered, like where did these last three objects come from and why did one of our most high tech air-to-air missiles miss on Sunday. Many of these questions will be answered when the payload and objects are recovered.

Here are four links to the audio and video of the intercepts found on YouTube:

F-22 and HUNTRESS audio from balloon shoot down.  

The long version of Spy Balloon shoot down audio. Still pretty scratchy but easy to make it out.

Audio of the F-16s Octagonal object shoot down over Lake Huron.

The best video I've found of the Spy Balloon shoot down I mention in the podcast.

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is sponsored by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. 

The F-22A Raptor is arguably the best fifth-generation fighter on the planet. A four, six, or eight-foot-long print of a Hawaii Air National Guard F-22 can be purchased here.

The F-22s were supported by F-15Cs from the Massachusetts Air National Guard carrying SNIPER targeting pods on their centerline station. The 44th Fighter Squadron flies in the same configuration... AIM-120C AMRAAMs, AIM-9X Sidewinders, and the SNIPER pod.

The F-16C Fighting Falcon has several air-to-air kills before this past weekend. F-16 prints of the 4th FS Fuujins and The Wraith from the 64th Aggressor Squadron are also available.

I really do appreciate all of you downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. All episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast are found on my Mark Hasara website under the Podcast pulldown tab.

Look forward to talking with you next week... who knows what will happen this week! 

 

Welcome to the fifty-third episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, the second in a series of Strategic Air Command bomber and tanker operations during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October and November of 1962.

Strategic Air Command's Cuban Missile Crisis After Action Report was declassified years ago. I did not find it until researching the chapter of my book called Klaxon! Klaxon! Klaxon! on nuclear operations in the Reagan Cold War. In the days leading up to President John F. Kennedy's landmark speech on the evening of 22 October telling America nuclear missiles are on the island of Cuba, Commander of Strategic Air Command General Thomas S. Power prepared his forces for the increase in airborne nuclear alert called Chrome Dome missions. SAC went from twelve Chrome Dome missions a day to seventy-five on 5 November 1962! The episode discusses the preparation, generation, and launch of SAC nuclear bomber and tanker assets over thirty days.

Financial support for the Lessons from the Cockpit comes solely from Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. One hundred twenty-seven Ready to Print aircraft profiles printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. These prints are four, six, or eight feet long and very detailed, the arming T-Handles on the AIM-9 heat-seeking Sidewinder missiles with the stenciling! Wall Pilot also creates custom aircraft profiles with your name, unit insignia, tail codes, and even desired weapons loadout on your favorite aircraft.

The KB-50J was Tactical Air Command's air refueling platform. A Ready to Print KB-50 from the 429th Air Refueling Squadron is available in four, six, or eight-foot-long vinyl prints.

The KC-135's played a huge part in every Chrom Dome mission refueling the B-52s flying Chrome Dome airborne nuclear alert missions in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas, over the North Pole, or near Thule Greenland. A KC-135E from the New Jersey Air National Guard is available from Wall Pilot.

The B-58 Hustler was new to Strategic Air Command's inventory and all 84 were placed on nuclear alert to cover the gaps in the Single Integrated Operations Plan or the nuclear war plan with the B-52s flying Chrome Dome missions. This B-58 Hustler profile is the Cowtown Hustler, a speed record-breaking Hustler now in the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton Ohio.  

The F-8E Crusader was the Navy's premier air superiority fighter as the McDonnell-Douglas F-4B was coming into the fleet. This Ready to Print F-8E Crusader from VF-162 off the USS Oriskany can be purchased here.

The U-2 Spy Plane took the first pictures of the San Cristobal Medium Range Ballistic Missile facility on 14 October 1962. A Ready to Print U-2 is available from Wall Pilot.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, I really do appreciate it! All episodes can be found on my website at markhasara.com, under the Podcast pull-down header.

Episode fifty-four will be up next week... discussing another time period where Russian nuclear subs caused SAC to increase the alert status once again in 1987. Look forward to talking with you again next week.

Welcome to the fifty-second episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, this will be one of those extreme aviation moments!

My Mom and Dad were very worried when I was just a kid starting school. They watched television a lot a month and a half into my first school year, a guy named Walter Cronkite particularly. The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 had begun. Strategic Air Command's Operation during the Cuban Crisis of 1962 was declassified years ago and details the intelligence collection operations during the spring into winter of 1962. Lockheed U-2 spyplanes photographed nuclear-capable ballistic missiles in Cuba which could reach Washington DC in fourteen minutes. This is the intelligence collection story detailing the high and low-altitude reconnaissance missions over Cuba.

Financial support for the Lessons from the Cockpit show comes solely from Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger.  

The US Air Force U-2 spy plane was a star of the show in the Cuban Missile Crisis. A four, six, or eight-foot-long print of the Dragon Lady can be purchased here.

The Navy's P2V Neptune maritime patrol airplane monitoring Russian commercial ships and submarines during the Cuban Missile Crisis can be purchased here.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website at markhasara.com

Next week's episode will cover the air-breathing nuclear response by Strategic Air Command and what B-47s, B-52s and the KC-97/KC-135 fleet did during the October and November Missile Crisis.

 

Welcome to episode fifty-one of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!

This is an interview I've wanted to do for a long time!

Commander Dave "Bio" Baranek as an F-14 Tomcat Radar Intercept Officer or RIO had a great Naval Aviation career. Leaving college with a passion for flying, Bio got into the Tomcat community shortly after the F-14's introduction into the fleet as the Navy's premier air superiority fighter. Bio saw the Tomcat grow from an air superiority fighter to a precision strike platform when Tomcats began carrying air-to-ground weapons and the LANTIRN targeting pod. While teaching at TOPGUN, he and the instructor cadre were a little surprised when told they would be participating in the creation and filming of arguably the most iconic aviation movie of the 80s with a little know actor in the lead role. Dave Baranek published many of these stories in his three books, which can be purchased through the Amazon links below.

His first book TOPGUN Days tells his story of naval aviation in the 1980s Cold War chasing The Bear, chosen as an instructor RIO at Navy Fighter Weapons School and the filming of the 1986 blockbuster movie TOPGUN staring Tom Cruise, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer, and Kelly McGillis. People are still listening to that musical score!

Dave's second book Before TOPGUN Days takes place before the events recounted in his previous memoir, Topgun Days, Bio brings to life the anxieties and excitement of entering the fast-paced world of naval fighter aviation. From a green recruit to an experienced flyer, discover what the journey is like to become a TOPGUN instructor.

His third book Tomcat RIO shares the challenges F-14 aircrews face flying intense missions against known and unknown enemies like a deadly foe called complacency. Learning a whole new mission late in his career, Bio saw the F-14 grow from an air superiority fighter to a precision strike asset. As a Navy expert in fighter tactics and aircraft carrier operations, his experience propelled him into command of a frontline F-14 fighter squadron, the world-famous VF-211 Fighting Checkmates, leading more than three hundred people while deployed on an aircraft carrier under combat conditions.

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is financially supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Help us keep the show going by purchasing one or two of very detailed aircraft profiles printed on vinyl in four, six, and eight-foot-long graphics you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. Wall Pilot can create a custom aircraft profile with your name on the canopy rail, preferred weapons load, tail number, and squadron emblems by contacting them at Wall Pilot's website.

Ready-to-Print aircraft profiles of the Grumman F-14A Tomcat from VF-1 Wolfpack and VF-32 Swordsman are available at these links. Profiles of F-5E Aggressor aircraft which appeared in the movie TOPGUN in the GRAPE and SNAKE schemes are also available from Wall Pilot Ready-to-Print section.

Please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with family, friends, and loved ones. All episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be downloaded from the Mark Hasara podcast website.

Thanks for listening and tune in next week for another episode where we debrief the most fascinating and intriguing pilots, aircrew members, maintainers, and aviation enthusiasts from all over the world to hear their stories but more importantly what they learned from their extraordinary military, commercial and private flying experiences.   

Welcome to the fiftieth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, a new milestone for our show!

All of you have heard of an airstrike or raid on something or someone in hiding who popped up in a valley, a downtown building, or a facility along a river. My Air Refueling Control Team planning and executing operations were involved in some of the highest profile attacks we call Time Sensitive Targets or just TSTs. This episode gives listeners a foundation on why and how they happen and a behind-the-scenes look at some of these very news-worthy TSTs. Most of these were extremely intense events and a few were unsuccessful.

The Lessons from the Cockpit show is financed by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Please take a look and order one or two of these very detailed four, six, and eight-foot aircraft profile drawings printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick on any flat surface. Wall Pilot also does custom profiles of your favorite aircraft with your name, unit emblems, tail number, and weapons load. Go to www.wallpilot.com to see the Ready-to-Print and custom order forms. 

 Prints of the B-1B Lancer bomber, involved with numerous TSTs during Operation Iraqi Freedom's Shock and Awe campaign is Ready-to-Print from Wall Pilot.

A print of an F-15E with the Quick Reaction Strike or QRS Alert weapons load used during Operation Allied Force over Kosovo is also available Ready-to-Print from Wall Pilot.

Thanks for downloading and listening to the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. This and all previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit show can be found on my website at markhasara.com

Happy Holidays to all our listeners. We will be back after the first week of January when we spend a few episodes on F-14 Tomcats.

Welcome to Episode 49 of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! I've wanted to do this one for a while.

My USAF Pilot Training experience was pretty rocky. I almost did not make it through. Fortunately, one really good instructor we called "The Doctor" helped me get through. The Doctor could fix just about any student's ailments with his incredible teaching skills. To this day, I still remember The Doctor’s Five Rules of Flying and have used them flying KC-135s all over the world and in my personal life too.

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. There are 127 Ready-to-Print images of aircraft from WW II to Fifth Gen fighters.  We do custom artwork too! Working on SH-3 Sea Kings and AH-64 Apaches right now.

Go by the website and take a look at the detail of these vinyl prints and buy one or two for your walls. This is how we keep the podcast going.

The Shamu Scheme on a KC-135 from the 909th Air Refueling Squadron comes in four, six, and eight-foot-long prints.

Flying in the F-15 Eagle was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Prints of the 67th Fighter Squadron Fighting Cocks and 44th Fighter Squadron Vampires are available from Wall Pilot.

Thanks for listening to this episode today. Please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your family and friends. Download this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, found on my website at markhasara.com 

In next week's episode, we discuss Time Sensitive Targets, what it TSTs mean, and how lawyers fit into the Kill Chain when finding, fixing, and finishing high-value or fleeting targets of opportunity. Examples are from Operation Northern Watch in 2000, Southern Watch in 2002, Southern Focus in 2002, and the air campaigns over Afghanistan and Iraq. One event involves the very FIRST use of the F/!-18 Super Hornet in combat in Iraq. I was there... and watched every one of these TSTs unfold.

Talk to you next week!

Welcome to episode forty-eight of the Lessons from the Cockpit Show!

Reading about how the Iraqi Freedom North War was planned and executed in March and April of 2003, I realized there are a lot of mistakes in the narrative out there. As Chief of the Air Refueling Control Team for the 2003 Iraqi Freedom Shock and Awe campaign, I felt it was a great time to tell what the Air Refueling Control Team experts had to overcome to accomplish some incredible feats, one of those being two of the longest strike missions in Naval Aviation history... 2800 nautical miles roundtrip!

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These beautifully drawn aircraft profiles are printed on vinyl so you can peel them off and stick them to any flat surface. Visit wallpilot.com and order from our 126 Ready-to-Print profiles or have them draw a custom print of your favorite airplane.

Captain Stephen "Moose" Laukaitis was the Deputy Carrier Airwing Eight Commander during the Shock and Awe campaign. His F/A-18C Hornet can be purchased here from Wall Pilot.

Thanks for listening to this episode and please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your family and friends found on my website at markhasara.com/episodes.

I hope all of you here in the United States have a great Thanksgiving with family and friends around the dinner table. 

Welcome to the forty-seventh episode of the Lesson from the Cockpit podcast!

This episode continues our conversation with former US Navy Commander Steve Bates and the history of the SH-3 Sea King helicopter. The Navy used the SH-3 for four decades and the Air Force made famous the HH-3 or Jolly Green Giant version, saving hundreds of airmen shot down over North and South Vietnam. The SH-3 also had a unique Cold War role Steve elaborates on!

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These extremely detailed profiles are printed on vinyl and can be peeled off and stuck to any flat surface. Our patches are on cars and boats now too! Please go to www.wallpilot.com and order one or two of these fantastic profile illustrations. The SH-3 and HH-3 drawings will be on the website soon.

Thanks for downloading and listening to the podcast! Please share this and previous episodes of the Lesson from the Cockpit podcast with friends, family, and loved ones, found on my website www.markhasara.com/episodes.

Thanks for listening and we'll talk to you again next week on the Lesson from the Cockpit show.

Welcome to the forty-sixth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!

The Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King was the US Navy's primary rotary-wing aircraft for decades. Steve discusses training and flying the Sea King used for Fleet Logistics bringing beans, bombs, and mail to the fleet and sailors while underway at sea. Steve also tells us about some of the humanitarian operations he was involved with while at the Pentagon... on 9/11!

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported entirely by Wall Pilot, custom aviation graphics for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These extremely detailed graphics are printed on vinyl and peeled off to stick to any flat surface. Go by Wall Pilot's website and order a few of these incredible graphics to keep the podcast going.

This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website at markhasara.com. Please share them with all of your family, friends, and loved ones. Our listening audience is growing fast now!

Some pretty amazing videos can now be found on Lt Col Mark Hasara TikTok page. We had 1.1 million views in our first week!

On next week's show, Steve tells us the history of the SH-3 Sea King and rotary wing aviation in the Navy so swing by next week.

Thanks for listening and downloading the podcast and we'll talk to you next week on the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast.

Welcome to the forty-fifth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!

The Air Force created a super-secret squadron located in the Nellis Air Force Base Range Complex, The 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron called "The Red Eagles." Rob Zettel is one of the world's subject matter experts on adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures from his experience flying the F-5E Tiger II with the 26th Aggressors in The Philippines and Russian Mig-21 Fishbed and MiG-23 Flogger fighters with the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron Red Eagles. Z-Man discusses his experiences flying F-4 Phantoms and being an Aggressor pilot with the famous Red Eagles.

Two books are available on the 4477th TES, the first called  America's Secret MiG Squadron: The Red Eagles of Constant Peg written by one of the founders Colonel Gail Peck. The second book is Red Eagles: America's Secret MiGs by Steve Davies.

Prints of the MiG-21 and MiG-23 Rob flew with the Red Eagles are available from Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These four, six, or eight-foot-long prints can be framed or peeled off and stuck to any flat surface.

Prints of the 26th Aggressor Squadron F-5E Tiger II painted in Russian GRAPE and SNAKE paint schemes are also available from Wall Pilot.

Thanks for downloading and listening to the show. Please share episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your friends and family. This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website.

Next week we talk to a US Navy SH-3 Sea King pilot and learn how the Sikorsky Sea King came about and some of the incredible missions the Sea King was equipped to perform... including carrying nuclear weapons!

Thanks for listening and we will talk to you next week on the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. 

Welcome to the forty-fourth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! We are fast approaching 15,000 downloads!

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress may have the distinction of flying and fighting for 100 years. The military continues adding new equipment and missions to a platform created for the nuclear Cold War of the 1960s. Colonel Chris "Chico" Anderson joins the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast telling us how the B-52 BUFF (Big Ugly Fat Fellow in polite company) continues to be one of the most potent and relevant aircraft in the US Air Force inventory. Chico tells us about Close Air Support and Joint Fires developed on the fly over Afghanistan to Hurricane Relief efforts along the Gulf Coast. Southern Command has now added another mission to the BUFF because of the sensors onboard... a laser-targeting pod hunting drug runners!

This episode of Lessons from the Cockpit is supported by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit. Fuel is a weapon! Tanker Pilot gives a behind-the-scenes view of planning and executing global air operations from nuclear alert missions in the Cold War to passing over 417 MILLION pounds of jet fuel in the 2003 Shock and Awe campaign over Iraq. Tanker Pilot allows this show to keep going so buy a copy available in all four formats on Amazon: hardback, softback, Kindle, and Audible.

On a recent show with MH-47 Chinook pilot Alan Mack, he mentioned his book RAZOR 03: A Nightstalker's Wars would be published soon. RAZOR 03 is OUT and available on Amazon! 

Thanks for downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the show, found on my website at markhasara.com. Please share all episodes with your family and friends, a new episode is posted every week.

On next week's show, we discuss adversary tactics and training with one of the world's experts who flew Russian MiG-21s and MiG-23s in the US Air Force out of Area 51... the world-famous 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron Red Eagles!

Thanks for downloading and listening to Lessons from the Cockpit and we'll talk to you next week! 

Welcome to the forty-third episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!

I have been asked for several years to tell the story of flying an American Flag for someone who became a very dear friend and my son Jeffrey's fourteen-month battle with cancer. Both my good friend and Jeffrey both succumbed to this terrible cancer disease. My wife and I decided today it was time to tell this story of a military tradition, patriotism and the American Flag, and compassionate service during this dark period of our family's life when Jeff battled Osteosarcoma.

To read a very moving tribute to my son Jeffrey go to "Our Prayers for the Hasara Family."

This episode is sponsored by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit found in all four formats on Amazon. Thirty-two pictures in the book were taken during the actual event described in each chapter. Go to Amazon or any bookseller and order a copy (or several!) of Tanker Pilot for a behind-the-scenes look at daily air refueling operations so Lessons from the Cockpit keeps moving forward.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! I really do appreciate it as we are growing with each episode. Lessons from the Cockpit is approaching 11,000 downloads in 42 episodes. Share this and other episodes with your family, friends, and loved ones found on my website at markhasara.com.

Next week you are going to hear from a B-52 Superfortress Navigator flying missions in the opening nights of the Afghanistan air campaign and learn about some new missions the old Big Ugly Fat Fellow or BUFF is flying with FEMA, DHS, and in Southern Command hunting drug boats from 30,000 feet!

Look forward to discussing those extraordinary missions with you next week!  

Welcome to the forty-second episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!

How did the concept of air refueling get started and how long has it been around? The answer will surprise you... 1921 and a gas can on a man's back! Experimentation with air refueling methods continued with the flight of the Question Mark in 1929 and the first air refueling company with a patented system created in 1934. The air refueling world owes a lot to the Brits! How we went from prop to jet-engined tankers is a fascinating study in a channel to market and risking an entire company in the 1954 air refueling tanker competition. Boeing lost the battle but won the war.  

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Order a four, six, or eight-foot-long vinyl print of a 420th ARS KB-50 drogue tanker, one of the first aircraft designed as an airborne tanker. The KC-135R Model from the 909th Air Refueling Squadron KC-135 is also available in the 1990s SHAMU paint scheme. A KC-10 "Gucci Bird from the 60th AMW or 305th AMW are also available from www.wallpilot.com.

Video of air refueling over time can be seen here, the Question Mark refueling here, and operations over Afghanistan and Iraq here.

Video of Tex Johnson barrel rolling the Dash 80 can be seen here.

Thanks for downloading and listening! Please subscribe and leave a review of any episode on my website. Download this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast from my website at www.markhasara.com under the episodes pulldown tab.  

Welcome to the forty-first episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast.

Jeff Fellmeth, callsign Flounder, was my Boss at Kadena while assigned to 18 Wing Plans. We were busy. Flounder tells his exploits and lessons learned from flying the OV-10 Bronco over Europe to being one of the few people I know to fly the F-15C  and F-15E versions of the mighty Eagle fighter. Jeff and I had the great fortune of working for some of the best leaders in the Air Force while stationed at Kadena, without a doubt one of the top three greatest flying and educational experiences of my career.

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by www.wallpilot.com, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Visit the Ready-to-Print section for 125 detailed prints of aircraft from World War II to Fifth Generation fighters. Wall Pilot also does custom aircraft with your name, unit, tail codes or bureau number, and the weapons load you ask for in a custom-drawn graphic. You can order a custom graphic at this link.

Go order four, six, or eight-foot long prints of the F-15C from the 67th Fighting Cocks F-15C at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa and 335th Chiefs F-15E Strike Eagle as Jeff flew at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base from the Wall Pilot website in the Ready-to-Print section. 

Wall Pilot's airplane images are printed on vinyl and can be peeled off to stick on any flat surface.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode of Lessons from the Cockpit. This and previous episodes can be downloaded from my website under the Podcast pulldown.

On next week's show listeners will learn the history of air refueling, from a five-gallon gas can on a man's back in 1921 to intense refueling operations over Afghanistan and Iraq in 2002.    

Welcome to the fortieth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! 

Chief Master Sergeant Dave Nordel had the distinction of being the Senior Non-Commissioned Officer for Air Refueling Wings, Numbered Air Forces, and deployed locations overseas. Chief Dave shares his stories of leadership and lessons learned, many written in his International Best Selling book Giving Back: Life and Leadership from the Farm to the Combat Zone and Beyond.

One chilling story in this episode... Dave deployed to Somalia three days after the Battle of Mogadishu in October 1993, with helicopter pilot of Army MH-60 SUPER 61 Mike Durrant still a prisoner of the Somalis. 

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, and hanger. Buying Wall Pilot graphics keeps our show going. Shop the 125 Ready-to-Print images of aircraft from WW II to Fifth Gen fighters, bombers, and airlifters printed on vinyl in four, six, and eight-foot graphics you can peel off and stick to the walls of your home, office, or hanger.

Wall Pilot can create custom aviation graphics of your favorite aircraft with your name, tail number, unit markings, and weapons load. These images are great historical records and conversation pieces for your home or office. 

Thanks for listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. Please subscribe and share episodes with your family, friends, and loved ones found on my website at www.markhasara.com 

 

Welcome to the thirty-ninth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!

A week after my first interview with Navy Captain Royce Williams he called me to say "I've thought of more things to talk about!" So this is part two of Captain Royce Williams discussing what it takes to keep the Navy refueled and rearmed at sea. He commanded a Carrier Air Wing during the Vietnam War and the USS El Dorado Command ship as its Captain in the 1960s and Royce tells us what it's like to lead while "Haze Grey and Underway.".

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. The two F-4B Phantom squadrons in Royce's Air Wing were VF-114 Aardvarks and VF-213 Black Lions. These are highly detailed images of these two Phantoms printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface.

Please go to www.wallpilot.com and purchase one of our 125 Ready-to-Print graphics or order a custom graphic with your name, unit emblem, tail codes, and weapons load from Wall Pilot. Financial support for our podcast is solely from Wall Pilot so help keep us going.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode. Please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your family and friends found on my website at www.markhasara.com/episodes.

 

Welcome to the thirty-eighth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! 

Military men and women are often sworn to secrecy. Captain Royce Williams was told never to tell anyone about his November 1952. Most air engagements last less than 60 seconds. Royce fought for 35 minutes with seven RUSSSIAN MiG-15 fighter jets over North Korea. He shot down four of the MiG-15s, landing on the USS Oriskany in a snow storm with 263 holes in his F9F Panther fighter jet.

Fifty years later a Russian historian wrote about the air battle. Many are now trying to push for Royce to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. The problem is the US government will not release the evidence!

Here are two links to Royce being interviewed about his air battle over North Korea. A great two-part article was written about Royce and the November 1952 air battle on the Remembered Sky website 

These two videos put listeners in the cockpit of US fighter jets over North Korea battling MiG-15s over the Yalu River as Royce describes in this episode.

Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Royce's F9F Panther is available in four, six, and eight-foot long images printed on vinyl which you can peel off and stick to any flat surface.

Episode II with Royce discusses his exploits as an Air Wing Commander during the Vietnam War, a meeting with President Eisenhower in Japan, and leading the Air Force's Gunnery School at Nellis AFB later this week.

Thanks for listening and please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your family and friends, found on my website at markhasara.com 

Welcome to episode thirty-seven of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, part seven of Operation Anaconda and the Battle of Roberts Ridge!

Retired Air Force Colonel James "Spanky" Dennis began his flying career as a Weapons System Operator in the F-4E Phantom II. The first WSO to command a Seymour Johnson F-15E Strike Eagle squadron, he'd been the leader of the 335th Fighter Squadron on 9/11, flying defensive missions over Washington DC and New York City. Colonel Dennis had to care for and feed a unit fighting at home and deployed to Kuwait for Operation Anaconda and Qatar for Iraqi Freedom. While at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, he led the air group assigned to a very secret special operations unit called Task Force 20, The Wolverines! 

Lessons from the Cockpit is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These very detailed images are printed on vinyl and can be peeled off and stuck to any flat surface.

Colonel Dennis F-4E Phantoms from Teague Air Base South Korea and Moody Air Force Base Georgia are available in the Ready-to-Print section of Wall Pilot.

His 335th Fighter Squadron Flagship and 494th Fighter Squadron F-15Es are also available in the Ready-to-Print section at www.wallpilot.com

On next week's podcast, you will hear from a 97-year-old MiG Killer whose story of the 38-minute engagement was kept secret for fifty years!

Thanks for downloading and listening to the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! Please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your friends and family, found at www.markhasara.com/episodes.

  

Welcome to the sixth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit series on Operation Anaconda and the Battle of Roberts Ridge.

Chief Warrant Officer Greg Calvert's MH-47 helicopter crew lifted off as RAZOR 1 with a Quick Reaction Force of Army Rangers in the back.  His landing zone was the top of Takur Ghar mountain in an attempt to save Roberts and SEAL Team MAKO 30. RAZOR 1's crew did not know the extent of what was happening atop the mountain flaring for landing. Greg shares his story and lessons learned from his involvement in the Battle of Roberts Ridge.

This video shows the battle raging around RAZOR 1 from the CIA Predator overhead.

NBC Dateline did a documentary on the Battle of Roberts Ridge with Greg Calvert which can be seen here at the 39:45 mark.

This is the longer video telling the story of the Battle of Roberts Ridge and TSgt John Chapman.

Here is an interview with Captain Nate Self, leader of the Army Ranger Quick Reaction Force riding in Greg's helo RAZOR 1.

Lessons from the Cockpit is financially supported by Wall Pilot, aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These are very detailed graphics of aircraft printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode! Please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with friends and family, available at markhasara.com

  

Welcome to the thirty-fifth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!

In the fifth part of our series on the Battle of Roberts Ridge we talk with Warrant Officer Al Mack, the pilot of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment MH-47 Chinook callsign RAZOR 3 delivering SEAL Team MAKO 30 to the top of Takur Ghar mountain at 3:30 am Monday morning 4 March 2002. His Chinook comes under heavy fire from enemy forces and SEAL Neil Roberts falls off the back ramp, which begins the desperate search and rescue for him. Al goes into the small details of how this mission unfolded and the lessons learned from the Battle of Roberts Ridge. Numerous changes were made because Al wrote all of his lessons down!

There are several documentaries on the Battle of Roberts Ridge with Al Mack and other participants on YouTube. I suggest you watch these three videos on what happened on Takur Ghar here, here, and the CIA Predator UAV video of John Chapman's heroics here.

An article on the recovery of MH-47 Chinook RAZOR 3 called From a Great Height is a great read on how the Army recovered Al Mack's wounded helo from the valley his crew crash-landed in.

Two great articles on how a candidate becomes a 160th SOAR Night Stalker are found on the Office of the Command Historian webpage.

Support from the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast comes from Wall Pilot, aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These very detailed images are printed on vinyl and can be peeled off and stuck to any flat surface or just framed.

Please share this and previous episodes of the Lesson from the Cockpit podcast with your family and friends  found on my website markhasara.com

   

Welcome to another episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast and our series on the Battle of Roberts Ridge and Operation Anaconda.

Arriving in Saudi Arabia on my wife's birthday in 2002, I jumped right into running a team of air refueling professionals. In mid-February, all of us in the Prince Sultan Combined Aerospace Operations Center were hearing about some snake-like operation. Because my Air Refueling Control Team had just accomplished two big "science projects" we felt good. Nobody was ready for what happened. This episode is my Air Operations Center view of what happened in March 2002 in Afghanistan's Shaia Kot Valley, the Place of Kings in Pashtun. There were a LOT of lessons learned after Anaconda applied to planning the upcoming invasion of Iraq. 

 Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These extremely detailed profile illustrations are printed on vinyl to peel off and stick to any flat smooth surface. Ready-to-Print graphics are available at wallpilot.com

A four, six, or eight-foot long print of the F-15E Anaconda Squeeze Play callsign TWISTER 52 participating in Roberts Ridge is available at Wall Pilot.

A similar print of the F-16CG CLASH 71 supporting the Battle of Roberts Ridge can be purchased at Wall Pilot also.

A print of a B-1 bomber Mr. Bones can also be found in the Ready-to-Print section of Wall Pilot.

 The book Alone at Dawn by Dan Schilling tells USAF Combat Controller and Medal of Honor winner TSgt John Chapman's story which is being made into the movie Combat Controller is available on Amazon.

Lt Col Pete Blaber's terrific book The Mission, The Men and Me about his exploits as a Delta Force operator is also available on Amazon.

My book Tanker Pilot; Lessons from the Cockpit has several chapters on Operation Anaconda.

Thanks for listening and look forward to the fifth Roberts Ridge episode next week as the pilot from the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment or SOAR flying MH-47 Chinook RAZOR 3 tells his incredible story of inserting MAKO 30 atop Takhur Ghar mountain.

Please download and share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with friends and family found at markhasara.com.

Welcome to the thirty-third episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!

One of the greatest assets US leadership owns is the ability to move patients, cargo, and relief supplies anywhere on the planet literally in twenty-four hours. It's all done from one place! Colonel Geno Redmon was my KC-135 Squadron Commander in Okinawa Japan during the mid-90s. As Vice Commander of Air Mobility Command's Tanker Airlift Control Center on 9/11, Geno tells us how air mobility operations were planned and executed to defend the US from attack and move US and allied forces to Afghanistan to hunt Osama bin Laden. His TACC Team leaned way forward watching the Battle of Roberts Ridge unfold through the same CIA Predator video feed I was watching at the Saudi Arabian Air Operations Center. Geno tells the story of the first C-17 crew into Karshi Khanabad and speaking with Marine Corps Brigadier General Jim Mattis as his troops prepared to occupy an Afghan airfield.

Support for the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast comes solely from Wall Pilot, very detailed custom airplane profiles printed on vinyl and can be peeled off and stuck to any flat surface or framed for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Aircraft profiles are available in right (Crew Chief names!) or left side (Aircrew names!) profile images. Custom images can be created with aircrew names, unit markings even specific weapons loads, and nose art in four, six, and eight-foot long vinyl graphics. Wall Pilot has printed a thirty-footer for one customer!   A graphic is available of the 909th Air Refueling Squadron KC-135 in four, six, and eight-foot long images.

Two KC-10A Extender graphics are available for jets based at McGuire and Travis Air Force Bases at Wall Pilot.

The C-130J is an AMC workhorse flying missions all over the world and is also available from Wall Pilot.

The book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit Geno and I talked about around his firepit is available on Amazon. Thirty-two pictures taken during events discussed in the book are included in all four formats: hardback, softback, kindle, and audible

Thanks for listening and please download and share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your family and friends found on my website at markhasara.com

 

Welcome to this episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, and it's a great one! This is the second of six episodes on Operation Anaconda and the Battle of Roberts Ridge.

Colonel Scott "Soup" Campbell has the distinction of being awarded three Distinguished Flying Crosses in four days during the Battle of Roberts Ridge and Operation Anaconda "for heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight" in the Air Force A-10 Warthog. Graduating from the Air Force Weapons School A-10 division while at Pope AFB, Soup Campbell and his wingman K-Nine left Al Jaber Air Base Kuwait on 4 March 2002 after the Battle of Roberts Ridge had started. Over the next four days, Soup and a band of Hawg drivers and support folks provided Forward Air Control and Close Air Support to Operation Anaconda from an austere base in Pakistan. This episode is his incredible story of heroism in the air and on the ground when things went very bad in the Shaia-i-Kot Valley of Afghanistan.

All of you should read his three DFC citations, found on the Distinguished Flying Cross Society

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is supported through the custom aviation art from Wall Pilot. These extremely detailed aircraft profile illustrations are printed on vinyl and peeled off and can be stuck to the walls of your home, office, or hangar. Ready-to-print images of aircraft from WW II P-51 and ME-109, Cold War B-58 Hustler and SR-71 spy plane, and Global War on Terrorism F-15Es and F-16s are available in four. six, and eight-foot-long prints.

A print of an A-10 Warthog is available from the Wall Pilot website.

Thanks for downloading and listening to this episode. Please subscribe and share previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your family and friends found on the markhasara.com website.

Next week in episode three of Operation Anaconda and Roberts Ridge, the Vice Commander of Air Mobility Command's Tanker Airlift Control Center at Scott AFB near St Louis tells us his lessons learned moving cargo and fresh MH-47 Special Ops helicopters to Afghanistan, and moving service members remains and wounded patients out of Afghanistan.

 

Welcome to the first episode of a six-part series of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast on the Battle of Roberts Ridge, episode number 31!

At approximately 3 am on Monday 4 March 2002 a 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment or SOAR MH-47 Chinook helicopter approached the top of Takur Ghar mountain, a critical piece of high terrain looking over the Shah-i-Kot Valley of Afghanistan. SEAL Team Six Petty Officer Neal Roberts fell off the Chinook ramp as Al Qaeda fighters opened fire on the helo. This event begins the rescue and recovery of Neal Roberts and the Battle for Roberts Ridge.

Colonel Matt Neuenswander, callsign El Cid, was Deputy Commander of the 332nd Expeditionary Operations Group at Al Jaber Air Field in Kuwait, and his air forces are called upon to support Roberts Ridge over a thousand miles away. El Cid tells the Lessons from the Cockpit audience his experiences and lessons learned from events during this battle and Operation Anaconda. He and his team must set up shop at an austere airbase in Pakistan so A-10 Warthogs can support air operations trying to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and his forces in the Shah-i-Kot Valley.

Here is an interview with Colonel Neuenswander from YouTube you will enjoy.

The Air Force after-action report called Operation Anaconda: An Air Power Perspective can be downloaded and read for more information on the Battle of Roberts Ridge.

Numerous books have been written about the rescue and recovery of Navy SEALs and Airmen from Roberts Ridge. I recommend reading Roberts Ridge by Malcomb MacPherson.

A four, six, or eight-foot print of Colonel Neuenswander's 68th Fighter Squadron F-16CG is available from Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Prints of the A-10 from the 74th Flying Tigers squadron will be available in the near future... it's being drawn now!

 

This episode is sponsored by Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit, available in all four reading formats from Amazon.

Please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast found on my website markhasara.com  

Welcome to another episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, episode number 30!

I'm asked several times a day "Have you seen the movie"... of course referring to TOPGUN Maverick. Of course I have, the opening night!

During this review, I talk about the Air Force's TOPGUN school, the US Air Force Weapons School based out of Nellis Air Force Base north of Las Vegas. Attendance to the Weapons School is by a competitive review board of each applicant. Often graduates or "Patch Wearers" as they are called get summoned to work complex military operations because of their planning and leadership skills. The scenario of the movie is not as far-fetched as you might think and I give some examples of planning missions, why planners chose a course of action, and some historical operations to strike and destroy nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons facilities as depicted in TOPGUN Maverick. And how do pilots and aircrew members get those crazy callsigns you hear about in the movie?

Wikipedia has a pretty good write-up on the Israeli Air Force strike on a nuclear plant in eastern Syria called Operation Outside the Box, the name chosen because Syria and North Korea tried to hide the nuclear facility under a boxy-type building. Syria's air defense system was rendered totally inoperable during the raid using means developed by the US. 

I could not find the website Above Top Secret Surface to Air Missile Google Maps overlay. Here is a picture of the Russian airfield near Latakia Syria showing the S-400 SAM sites... which Israeli Air Force F-35 seem impervious from attack! Notice the Russian SU-35 rolling out on the runway and the IL-76 AWACS parked on the ramp!

Article on the B-2 bombers attacking Sirte Libya. This was a long mission planned and led by Weapons School graduates and required 950K+ gas from Air Force tankers to accomplish.

Thanks to Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit for sponsoring this show.

This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be downloaded from markhasara.com

Thanks for listening and tune in next week for another episode of Lessons from the Cockpit.

 

Thanks for joining us today and welcome to another episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!

On today's show U.S. Navy Captain and F-18 fighter pilot Captain Dave "Mongo" Koss discusses leading the opening night strike packages of Enduring Freedom over Afghanistan and a year later executing several of the longest combat air patrol and strike missions near Baghdad in the opening week of Iraqi Freedom's Shock and Awe air campaign. Mongo also takes us behind the scenes of what it takes to lead and prepare the Navy Demonstration Team The Blue Angels for the airshow season. He leaves us with his tested-in-combat six-element formula for leadership in any organization.

Here are two videos of a cat shot in an F-18 Super Hornet, one showing the launch and another verbalizing the checklist before the catapult stroke.

This is a great video of what a carrier landing looks like from a pilot's view in a VFA-14 Tophatters Super Hornet, the squadron Dave Koss commanded before moving to Pensacola and commanding the Blue Angels Navy Demonstration Team.

Here is a great cockpit video from inside the Blue Angel formation which shows the concentration and finesse these aviators use during their routines.

Mace in your Face! This link is just a really cool video with great music the VFA-27 Royal Maces put together years ago called "Shoot'em if ya got 'em".

Thanks again to our sponsor Wall Pilot for the four, six, and eight-foot-long prints of Dave Koss' F-18C squadron VFA-87 WAR PARTY you can stick to the walls of your home, office, or hanger.

Carrier air wings are now filled with the newest Hornet, the F-18E/F Super Hornet. A print of VFA-103 Jolly Rogers F-18F Super Hornet can be purchased from Wall Pilot.

This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found in the podcast pulldown box at markhasara.com

Thanks again for listening and look forward to another episode of Lessons from the Cockpit next week.

Welcome to another episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! An opening line in the new TOPGUN Maverick movie is so appropriate for this episode. Our lessons learned discussion is with MiG Killer US Air Force retired Colonel Cesar "Rico" Rodriguez, an A-10 Hawg and F-15 Eagle pilot who DOES have three MiG kills in forty years. Rico tells the story of his two kills during Desert Storm in 1991 and the opening night of Allied Force over Kosovo in 1999. He also shares lessons learned from working sixteen years in the defense industry with one of the largest defense companies in the world.   This episode is sponsored by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Rico's Desert Storm 58th Tac Fighter Squadron Gorillas double MiG Killer F-15C and the the 493rd Fighter Squadron Grim Reapers F-15C he flew on the opening night of Allied Force are available for listeners to purchase in four, six, or eight-foot prints that peel off and can be stuck to any flat surface.   This is a link to the AIM-7 Sparrow missile picture Rico and I discuss in the episode... the missile is about to impact the cockpit of an Iraqi MiG-29 Fulcrum shot by Rico's wingman Capt Craig "Mole" Underhill.   Here is a link to Rico telling his story on YouTube and the History Channel.   Please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your friends and family, found on the Mark Hasara website under the Podcast pull down.   Thanks for listening and look forward to another episode next week.

Welcome to this episode of Lessons from the Cockpit show!

There is one Air Force airplane that doesn't get a lot of love but every soldier or Marine wants overhead in a troops-in-contact situation: the Republic A-10 Warthog! The Hog is a devastating aircraft in combat and is known for its big GAU-8 30mm gun... Bbrrrrtttt! Buck Wyndham joins us with stories of his missions and exploits during Desert Storm, the first combat employment of the A-10. Buck had an opportunity to see firsthand what concentrated airpower can do to the enemy as he walked around the famous Kuwait City to Baghdad highway, better known as the Highway of Death.

The A-10 has looks and sounds all of its own. Here is the sound of its gun, and what it looks like from inside the cockpit over Afghanistan. The effects of this aircraft are incredible. 

This episode of Lessons from the Cockpit is sponsored by Buck's book Hogs in the Sand found in all four formats on Amazon.

Prints of military aircraft which peel off and can be stuck to any flat surface are available at Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger.

Please share this and previous episodes of Lessons from the Cockpit from markhasara.com

Welcome to the 25th episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show!

  Colonel George "John Boy" Walton and his four-ship of F-4G Advanced Wild Weasels pulled up to my KC-135 on the opening night of Operation Desert Storm thirty-one years ago. He explains the Weasel mission and what the 12-ship of Weasels he was leading was tasked to do at 3 am near Baghdad: poke the eyes out of Saddam Hussein's air defenses. You always knew when the Weasels were coming to your tanker... they used BEER callsigns like COORS, LONESTAR, and MICHELOB! 

A print of John Boy Walton's F-4G Wild Weasel COORS 31 from the opening night of Desert Storm for the walls of your home, office, or hanger is available from our sponsor Wall Pilot.

A print of the EF-111A Spark Vark DRILL 71 jamming plane which flew with Colonel Walton's COORS 31-34 flight on the opening night of Desert Storm is also available from Wall Pilot.

A print of a 27th Tac Fighter Squadron F-15C protecting John Boy Walton's Weasel package from Iraqi Air Force Migs and Mirage F1s is also available from Wall Pilot.

Thanks for listening to this episode! Please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your family and friends from my website markhasara.com 

 

This is a short episode of Lessons from the Cockpit to explain where I've been for two weeks.

My wife and I volunteered for Colonel Gail Halvorsen Memorial service being held this week, 20-21 May 2022, at two Utah Valley airports: Provo Airport's new terminal, and Spanish Fork Airport. The Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation World War II-era Douglas C-54D Skymaster will be on display with a US Air Force C-17A Globemaster III at Provo Airport's new terminal Friday 20 May from 10 am to 3 pm. There will be a re-naming ceremony of the C-17 to "Spirit of the Candy Bomber" at 6 pm.

Saturday 21 May the C-54 and C-17 will be in formation over Utah Valley by 8 am and around noon the C-54 crew will re-enact the Berlin Airlift Candy Drop over Spanish Fork Airport. All of these events are for kids!

If you are within driving distance of Utah Valley later this week, this event will be one of those you won't want to miss.

Special thanks to Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit for sponsoring this episode of the show. A C-54 graphic for the walls of your home, office, or hanger can be purchased at Wall Pilot.

I'll be back on schedule next week with a new episode on how to find, target, and kill Surface-to-Air Missile or SAM sites from a guy who did it the opening night of Desert Storm.

Please share episodes of Lessons from the Cockpit with your family and friends on my website markhasara.com. 

Welcome to this episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show!

I remember Civil Defense drills as a kid in Elementary school living in the Los Angeles area of the 1960s. A horn would go off and we'd all dive under our desks. Russian ballistic missile submarines roamed both coasts of the US. Retired Navy Captain Frank Ellis tells the tactics, techniques, and lessons learned from flying the Lockheed P-2V Neptune Maritime Patrol and Anti-Submarine Warfare plane hunting Russian subs and intelligence collection "Fishing Trawlers" around the world during the 60s and 70s Cold War. Nuclear weapons are involved!

Thanks to our sponsor Wall Pilot, where a profile print of Frank's Lockheed P-2V Neptune is available for the walls of your home, office, or hanger.

Please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with friends and loved ones found on my website at markhasara.com 

Thanks for listening and tune in next week for another episode of Lessons from the Cockpit.   

Welcome to this episode of Lessons from the Cockpit!

Air refueling does not happen without the KC-135 or KC-10 Boom Operator being in the Boom Pod of the tanker. These Enlisted heroes are what make air refueling possible. On today's show, our Chief Boom Operator from the 909th Air Refueling Squadron at Kadena Air Base Chief Master Sergeant Dan Jones shares his lessons of teamwork, innovation, and Esprit de Corps with us while flying some of the most intense and memorable missions of our lives in the 1990s. When he and I look back at this assignment, both of us agreed it was the best of our careers! And I took thousands of pictures with my camera from the cockpit.

This episode is sponsored by the book Tanker Pilot, found in all four formats on Amazon.

Images of a Kadena-based KC-135R and KC-135E Stratotankers or a Travis AFB or McGuire AFB KC-10 Extender can be purchased from Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger.

Please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit show with your family and friends, found on my website markhasara.com

Thanks for listening and look forward to next week's episode and the lessons learned from Cold War Russian Submarine Hunter!

Welcome to this episode of Lessons from the Cockpit!

There is one thing all US service members promise to their comrades in arms... we leave no one behind! In early March of 2002 coalition forces began military operations in the Shahi-Khot Valley of Afghanistan, known now as Operation Anaconda. The start of this operation did not go well. On 4 March 2002 then Captain Chris Russell, an F-15E Strike Eagle Weapons System Operator, and his pilot Captain Kirk Reichkoff flying as TWISTER 52 took off at midnight from a base near Kuwait City on what became a very long and exhausting sortie. Chris shares with us his lessons learned while covering the downing of a 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment MH-47 Chinook, and the rescue and recovery of SEAL Team MAKO 30 and Petty Officer Neil Roberts after he fell off the helicopter. This is the famous Battle of Roberts Ridge. 

  Chris was kind enough to send me the cockpit tapes from TWISTER 51 their flight lead. I've included three clips from the audio in this episode towards the end.

The video taken and commentated on by the MQ-1 Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle during the Battle of Roberts Ridge was used for awarding Tech Sgt Chapman his Medal of Honor, the only MOH engagement ever recorded.

A 15-minute interview with Medal of Honor recipient Navy SEAL Team Six Senior Chief Britt Slabinski describing the battle atop Robert's Ridge is found here.  

This episode of Lessons from the Cockpit is sponsored by Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit.

Prints of the F-15E Strike Eagle Captain Russell was flying on 4 March 2002 and The Bold Tigers flagship which participated in the opening of Operation Enduring Freedom can be purchased at Wall Pilot. 

Please share this and all previous twenty episodes with family and friends found on my website markhasara.com.

Thanks for listening to the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!  

Welcome to episode 21 of the Lessons from the Cockpit Show!

My good friend Dave Mason and I walked and talked moving around the displayed aircraft at Hill Aerospace Museum in Ogden Utah earlier this month. Dave relates how fliers learn in extreme situations to quickly compartmentalize problems and put fears in their place. The number one priority in the air always is maintaining aircraft control, including your emotions and voice! The Reagan 80's was a great time to be a military pilot. Aircrews got to hop in a jet anytime and go out and just do it. One of the greatest tools aviators have is the post-flight debrief, a learning opportunity not many of us use in our daily lives. Walking around the museum Dave shared some of his experiences flying one of the most dangerous missions in the Air Force... the Wild Weasel mission hunting enemy surface-to-air missiles or SAM sites in the F-105G and F-4G Wild Weasel aircraft.

Special thanks to Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit for sponsoring this episode.

Custom graphics of the F-105F, F-4G, and F-16CJ Wild Weasel aircraft are available at www.wallpilot.com for the walls of your home, office, or hangar.

Please share this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit show at www.markhasara.com

Thanks for listening and look forward to talking to you next week.

Welcome to episode twenty of the Lesson from the Cockpit show!

You are NEVER alone during flight. Every fighter or bomber aircrew will tell you warheads on foreheads is always a team effort. Ground weapons crews load Maverick missiles a Flight Lead directs after their wingman fires at a target called out by a Joint Terminal Attack Controller embedded with Special Forces teams. Aviators never forget scenery from the cockpit while flying, particularly at night. Night environments often require equipment changes of the latest and greatest equipment, and what better place to change out helmet visors than on the tanker's wing... at night!  In this episode, Lt Col Caroline "Blaze" Jensen tells our listeners what it's like flying the F-16 in Korea and Iraq, and how the US Air Force Demonstration Team, the world-famous Thunderbirds, choose replacements. She knows... she flew with the T-Birds for three years!

Blaze Jensen can show you how to be Brilliant under Pressure during your next team or company event by contacting her through diamondechelonllc.com

Wall Pilot has custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hangar. Four, six, or eight-foot-long prints of 35th Pantons or the 4th Fuujins Fighter Squadron F-16 Vipers are available at Wall Pilot.

Please share and subscribe to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit show by visiting my website at markhasara.com

Thanks for downloading and we'll talk to you next week.

Welcome to episode nineteen of the Lessons from the Cockpit Show!

Flying in the F-15 is an ultimate thrill. I know because I've done it three times. But deployed duties where airmen, soldiers, sailors, and Marines solve the most complex puzzles having theater-wide effects are often the most rewarding.

Lt Col Joe Katuzienski (retired) is one of those US Air Force airmen who impacted air warfare at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels of war. Flying F-15 Eagles over Iraq in the first Gulf War, he deployed twice after the 2003 Shock and Awe campaign to Baghdad and the Combined Air and Space Operations Center in Qatar. Tazz's expertise impacted the way airpower affected soldiers and Special Forces on the ground. In this episode, Tazz explores how relationships, using all intelligence and weapons available and empowering your people saved lives and resources during the surges in Afghanistan and Iraq. Tazz now flies for one of the major US airlines.

F-15C Eagle prints are available at Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger.

Thanks to Wall Pilot for sponsoring this episode of Lessons from the Cockpit.

Prints of the Eagle jets from Langley and Kadena Tazz flew are available at Wall Pilot in four, six, and eight-foot lengths.

Read more about Operation Marne Torch on Wikipedia.

Information on the Battle of Musa Qala. 

Please share this and previous episodes of Lessons from the Cockpit at markhasara.com

Thanks for listening and have a great weekend! 

 

    

Welcome to another episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show!

On today's show, our guest Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Mo Barrett fights for centerline deciding to fly a very big airlifter or deploy with her Tanker Airlift Control Element (TALCE) team opening airfields for war in Afghanistan on 9/11. Her team makes two large Forward Operation Bases livable and operable with hours and had a unique way of evolving a place to go potty. Something simple every pilot carries on them becomes a tool for democracy and brings a smile to kids' faces as Mo flies the big C-5 Galaxy cargo plane. Women have been flying in our Air Force for decades, but an Ecuadorian Mayor never got that memo.

Special thanks to Mo Barrett and her book Pardon my Quirks for sponsoring this episode of Lessons from the Cockpit.

Enjoy how to laugh, learn and think about our human quirkiness with Mo as your keynote speaker. Contact and schedule Mo via her website at Mo Barrett.   

Several airlift aircraft are available to buy at Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger.

Please share this and previous episodes of Lessons from the Cockpit on my website and remember to subscribe!

Thanks for listening and have a great week!     

Welcome to another episode of Lessons from the Cockpit show!

George Nolly gives us great lessons from logging time in O-2 Skymasters as a Forward Air Controller, and fighter pilot in the F-4D/E Phantoms over Vietnam. George even spent exactly one year in the big B-52! George flew with and now instructs for one of the major US airlines in the 737, and 777s with an Indian airline. He tells us there is no such thing as useless information and relates his most important lesson from a combat mission over North Vietnam, a great lesson on leadership, fuel is flying's hourglass, and giving control to your best shooters in battle. George shares the audio from WALNUT Flight looking for a tanker near Haiphong!

Prints of the mighty F-4 Phantom from the Vietnam LINEBACKER air campaign are available at Wall Pilot. 

Thanks for listening and please subscribe and share this or previous episodes of Lessons from the Cockpit with your family and friends found on my website.

Welcome to this episode of Lessons from the Cockpit!

Pete Fleischmann flew F-16 Vipers in the Air Force and currently is an A320 Captain for one of the major US airlines. He also trains pilots how to avoid the leading cause of fatal aircraft accidents worldwide in a very unique classroom. On today's show, he tells us where good judgment really comes from, an essential management tool whenever and where ever an airplane leaves the ground, and the importance of basic stick and rudder skills and their role in the loss of controlled flight. Pete also shares some of his planning factors when establishing a No-Fly/No Drive zone over or near a hostile country, something we hear a lot about in the news right now.

If you want to check off flying a fighter jet on your bucket list or learn how to recover an aircraft after the loss of controlled flight, visit Pete's Acrojet website.

Here is the two-seat F-16 which then Lt Col Gary North shot down an Iraqi Air Force MiG-25 Foxbat over the Iraq No-Fly Zone Pete talked about in the episode.

One of the most famous F-16 Vipers is called BOB and can be purchased for the walls of your home, office, or hanger.

An F-16 in the 64th Aggressor Squadron given the nickname WRAITH because of its black paint scheme is also available from Wall Pilot, sponsor of today's episode.

Thanks for listening and please share this and previous episodes of Lessons from the Cockpit Show found at markhasara.com

  

Welcome to episode fifteen of the Lessons From the Cockpit Show! In 1948 Douglas Aviation ran full-page ads of their C-54, a little girl catching glasses of milk dropped from the Skymaster aircraft. The Skymaster was making history during the Berlin Airlift. An aviation Rockstar was born during the airlift, flying a C-54 and dropping candy to German kids gathered along the fences of Tempelhof Airfield. 1Lt Gail Halvorsen became known as "Onkel Wackelflugel" or Uncle Wiggle Wings to the German kids but forever known as the "Candy Bomber" in aviation history. I attended Colonel Halvorsen's funeral last week after his passing at the age of 101.

The link to Colonel Halvorsen's great webpage with great Berlin Airlift information is here.

The link to a great article on The Candy Bomber at St Mary's Research Scholars can be found here.

Wall Pilot's rendition of the Douglas C-54 Skymaster, the plane Colonel Gail Halvorsen flew in the Berlin Airlift available in four, six, and eight-foot vinyl prints for the walls of your home, office, or hanger can be found here.

This is the 1948 Douglas Aviation advertisement based on the Berlin Airlift:

Thanks to Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit for sponsoring this episode of the show.

Thanks for listening, downloading, and sharing this and other episodes of Lessons from the Cockpit found on my webpage.

 

Welcome to another episode of Lessons from the Cockpit!

I had a conversation recently with a Commander I highly respect, for both his leadership skills and impeccable insights on the battlefield and in business. He and  I were involved in numerous exercises with other US military services, our international partners, and the extremes of intense air campaigns over foreign nations. This episode captures four of the lessons learned on the battlefield and their application in the business world. Those four lessons are culture, language, requirements, and education.

This episode is sponsored by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit, found in all four formats on Amazon.

Four, six, and eight-foot-long prints of Desert Storm F-14A Tomcats and A-7E Corsair IIs for the walls of your home, office, or hanger can be found at Wall Pilot. 

VF-1 Wolfpack WITCHITA 100 F-14A of Desert Storm can be found here. 

VF-14 Topphaters CAMELOT 100 F-14A from Desert Storm can be found here.

VA-72 Blue Hawks A-7E Corsair II DECOY 401 can be found here.

VA-46 Clansmen A-7E Corsair II TARTAN 302 can be found here. 

Please share this and previous episodes of Lessons from the Cockpit with family and friends at my website Mark Hasara.

Thanks for listening and sharing the show!

 

Welcome to another episode of Lessons from the Cockpit Show!

  While teaching at the Joint Forces Staff College many of my students asked what books they should have in their libraries. I developed a list of books on joint warfare, decision-making on the battlefield, and leaders who really left an impact on their organizations. This episode of Lessons from the Cockpit discusses some of the books in my TOP TEN BOOKS category.

Here are the Amazon links to those books:

100 Days

Hog Pilots and Blue Water Grunts

Hunter Killer

Blind Man's Bluff

Deep Black

The Men, The Mission, and Me

Thud Ridge

Going Downtown

Fighter Pilot

The First and the Last

Midway: The Battle that Doomed Japan

Sources of Power

Blink

Thunder Run

Tanker Pilot

Link to The Intercept and The Drone Papers articles:

The Drone Papers

Link to Rick Tollini interview on Intuitive Expertise:

Rick Tollini and Killing MiG-25s

Link to the videos of Third Infantry Division and 1-64th Armored Division Thunder Run into Baghdad:

Thunder Run from the Turret

Third ID and the Thunder Runs

Additional episodes of Lessons from the Cockpit can be found on my website's PODCAST pulldown at:

Mark Hasara Webpage

Link to Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger:

Wall Pilot

Thanks for listening and please share this and all episodes of Lessons from the Cockpit with friends and family.

Welcome to this episode of Lessons from the Cockpit Show!

In this episode, we discuss red underwear, one of the greatest victories and defeats in modern air warfare, and how a Commander's Conference kept this Navy Captain from being incinerated. Our hero in this episode is Imperial Japanese Navy Captain Mitsuo Fuchida.

Commander Mitsuo Fuchida was an expert tactician and planner, leading many Japanese Navy attacks throughout the Pacific. Flying as an observer in a Nakajima B5N2 Kate attack plane, Commander Fuchida directed the attack of Pearl Harbor. He was almost killed during the battle of Midway and Colonel Paul Tibbets's atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima. A chance meeting on a Tokyo street corner leads to Captain Fuchida's conversion to Christianity, his mentor being a former enemy and part of the first US attack on the Japanese homeland, the Doolittle Raid.

A link to why Japan attacked the US:

https://youtu.be/so4v_2zq35k 

Link to a good overview of the Pearl Harbor raid: https://youtu.be/f6cz9gtMTeI

Three-part documentary on the Japanese attack on Midway:

Part One: https://youtu.be/Bd8_vO5zrjo

Part Two: https://youtu.be/BXjydKPcX60

Part Three: https://youtu.be/WHO6xrSF7Sw

Commander Fuchida's detailed debriefing map of the Pearl Harbor attack: https://i.redd.it/yrrd3gujhm621.jpg

Mitsuo Fuchida's appearance on the Merv Griffin Show in September 1965, at the 35:40 mark:

https://tubitv.com/tv-shows/501213/s01-e01-episode-1

The Nakajima B5N2 Kate Commander Fuchida was flying in as an observer of the Pearl Harbor Raid can be found on Wall Pilot's website at:

https://wallpilot.com/product/imperial-japanese-navy-nakajima-b5n2-kate/

Listen and share this and past episodes of Lessons from the Cockpit show at www.markhasara.com

Thanks for joining us on this episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show.

Welcome to the eleventh episode of Lessons from the Cockpit! Thirty-one years ago early this morning my crew took off and flew our first combat mission on the opening night of Desert Storm. We refueled the first F-4G Wild Weasel and EF-111A Spark Vark package going to Baghdad to take down the integrated air defense system. This mission was intense! I kept a journal of every event and flight during my deployment 31 years ago. There are a lot of lessons learned not only from flying but being involved in the planning of tanker missions for the largest air refueling wing assembled in US Air Force history... 90 planes on the ramp!

All of us had to prepare our minds for where our bodies were going to take us that night and through the rest of the war. In a nanosecond, I can bring to my mind scenes from some of the missions I flew during months my crew was there: fighter jets on my wing, early warning planes telling us Iraqi MiGs are airborne, and calling out a SCUD ballistic missile launch.

Wall Pilot creates custom airplane prints printed in vinyl you can peel off the backing and stick on the walls of your home, office, or hanger. The Mission Commander's F-4G Advanced Wild Weasel my crew refueled the opening night of Desert Storm can be found at this link:

https://wallpilot.com/product/561st-tfs-f-4g-wild-weasel/ 

EF-111A Spark Vark jamming airplane callsign DRILL 71 can be found here:

https://wallpilot.com/product/ef-111a-390-desert-storm/

An F-15C Eagle from the 58th TFS like those we refueled in TANGERINE anchor can be found here:

https://wallpilot.com/product/f-15c-eagle/

And the F-111F Aardvark loaded with GBU-24 2000 pound laser-guided Bunker Buster bombs can be found at:

https://wallpilot.com/product/f-111f-494-desert-storm/

Previous episodes of Lesson from the Cockpit are found on my website under the Podcast pulldown at www.markhasara.com

This episode is sponsored by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit available on Amazon in all four formats at Tanker Pilot

Please share this podcast with your family and friends and thanks for listening to the show!

Welcome to the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! Into whose hands would you place trust and risk your life? Military service members deal with this question every day. There is one community of US Air Force aircraft aircrew members all over the world trust with their lives to. Why? Crews flying these two jets have the reputation of ALWAYS being at the right place and right time, but more importantly where they need to go when things go bad. They have saved countless lives and millions of dollars of equipment during wartime. On two occasions fighter pilots accepted a greater amount of risk during complex missions because they trusted the reputation of a community flying a 60-year-old jet and its crews. The same is true for this old jet's younger Big Sister. This episode is sponsored by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit found on Amazon in all four formats.

You can have the two fighter jets spoken of for the walls of your home. office, or hanger in four, six, and eight-foot-long graphics which can be peeled off and stuck to a wall or framed. Wall Pilot's graphics a printed on vinyl with a sticky backing. The 17th Tac Fighter Squadron "Hooters" F-16C can be found at:

https://wallpilot.com/product/17th-tac-fighter-squadron-desert-storm-f-16c/ 

And the VFA-87 War Party F-18C Hornet can be found at:

https://wallpilot.com/product/vfa-87-warparty-f-18c/

Please feel free to share this episode with family and friends and subscribe  to our show at www.markhasara.com

On this episode of Lessons from the Cockpit; Airplane designers analyze three elements for creating an airplane: Range, Payload, and Endurance. All three of these elements are affected by the aircraft engine. Two world-famous engines almost didn't make it into their iconic airframes. There were numerous obstacles business and engineering leaders overcame. One engine was within two weeks of cancellation. But companies took the high-risk road and it paid off in billions of dollars. Both of these engines changed the way the two planes operated, stretching the range, increasing the payload, and lengthening the endurance of these two famous planes. 

Special thanks to the book Tanker Pilot and Wall Pilot for sponsoring this episode of Lessons from the Cockpit.

P-51 and Spitfire graphics for the walls of your home or office can be purchased at www.wallpilot.com.  

https://wallpilot.com/product/supermarine-mk1-spitfire/

https://wallpilot.com/product/george-preddy-p-51d-cripes-a-mighty-iii/

All episodes of Lesson from the Cockpit can be found on my website, https://markhasara.com/

Thanks for listening and please share with family and friends.

On this the eighth episode of Lessons From the Cockpit: The US Air Force has its version of TOPGUN, training the best of the best from 18 different weapons, intelligence, command and control, Special Operations, rescue, and intercontinental ballistic missile forces. It's called the US Air Force Weapons School, based at Nellis Air Force Base in North Las Vegas. During one large force night training event, things did NOT go well for the students. One mistake snowballed into the loss of numerous aircraft. If this had been the opening night of a real Shock and Awe campaign, eleven airmen would not be coming home.

The students who flunked this training event took ownership of their mistakes, learned from them, and were better prepared when they crushed their simulated adversaries the following night.

To experience a night mass launch out of Nellis AFB:

https://youtu.be/6IqEvddN1YU

https://youtu.be/nl7Cz97poro

Special thanks to Wall Pilot for sponsoring this episode of Lessons from the Cockpit, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. Three 64th Aggressor Squadron aircraft, stars of this episode, can be purchased at:

https://wallpilot.com/product/f-16c-18th-aggressor-squadron/

https://wallpilot.com/product/f-16-aggressor-digital/

https://wallpilot.com/product/f-16c-64-aggressor/ 

Wall Pilot F-15 prints can be purchased at:

https://wallpilot.com/product/f-15c-eagle-57th-fww-flagship/

https://wallpilot.com/product/f-15c-eagle-44th-fs/

Thanks again for listening and please share this episode with family or friends and subscribe to the show.

On this episode of Lessons from the Cockpit: The good Lord gave us all two ears and one mouth for a reason. Important information is often given up because we spend too much time talking when we should be listening. One day my Boss set up two TOPGUN wannabes to be humiliated and it cost them $30 each!

On a trip to San Diego, Jim and I visited the USS Midway Museum (https://www.midway.org/). Sitting in the F-4 dogfight simulator in Midway's Hanger Deck, my two adversaries' competitiveness and egos gave me a VERY important piece of information about themselves.

I'm much more observant about my surroundings after flying for over 24 years. Spending a few moments with Colonel John Boyd's Observation - Orientation - Decision - Action or OODA Loop concept when I died during one dogfight gave me valuable knowledge to kill these would-be air aces over and over again.

Special thanks to Wall Pilot (www.wallpilot.com) for sponsoring this episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show.

During the Vietnam war, the USS Midway's F-4 Phantom squadron VF-161 shot down five North Vietnamese Air Force MiG-17 fighters during the LINEBACKER II campaign. VF-161's F-4B Phantom II ROCK RIVER 100 downed two MiG-17 Frescos in one air battle on 23 May 1972. The graphic of Rock River 100 can be purchased for the walls of your home or office at https://wallpilot.com/product/f-4b-161-vietnam/

Please share this episode with your friends, loved ones, and colleagues. Thanks once again for listening to Lessons from the Cockpit!  

Welcome to this episode of Lessons from the Cockpit! There is one training event during my Air Force career  I can truly say was transformational. And it started with a 3M sticky note on my desk written by the #3 Commander on Kadena Air Base, Okinawa Japan.

Fearing I wasn't up to this task, that Commander let me and my counterpart use our imagination and initiative to create one of the most complex and dynamic training exercises in 18th Wing history.

This exercise trained the largest combined Air Force Wing of seven flying squadrons and three other flying units on how to plan and operate in any conflict across the Far East region. We did it with a Navy Carrier Battlegroup as our simulated adversary over an imaginary battlefield. 

The education and expertise I gained from this exercise were invaluable while deployed to the Middle East, planning and executing the air campaigns over Afghanistan and Iraq from 2002 through 2003.

F-15C Eagle images can be purchased from our sponsor Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home or office at the following links:

44th Fighter Squadron F-15C "Chaos"

65th Aggressor Squadron F-15C Flanker  

65th Aggressor Squadron F-15C Splinter

Thanks for listening and hope you enjoy the show. Subscribe and share with your friends and loved ones who have a passion for aviation at Podcast at markhasara.com

Welcome to this episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! Our conversation with Mike "Coma" Reed continues this week, telling us his story of integrating all the systems in the Lockheed F-22 Raptor, arguably the most lethal fighter jet in the world. Mike explains why the F-22 program and development performed so well and the F-35 program continues to have challenges.

Age and treachery will always overcome youth and exuberance as Mike relates an event with a Russian TU-95 Bear Bomber off the coast of South Korea.

Then-Vice President George H. W. Bush visited South Korea and F-4E Phantom IIs from Mike's 36th Tactical Fighter Squadron, The Flying Fiends, escorted the VP's plane into Osan Air Base Korea. Today the Flying Fiends continue to defend the Korean Peninsula from aggression from North Korea and China as a Cold War atmosphere increases in the Far East.

Prints of Mike's two F-4E Phantoms for the walls of your home or office can be purchased from our sponsor Wall Pilot at the following links:

https://wallpilot.com/product/f-4e-36th-tac-fighter-squadron-osan-korea/

https://wallpilot.com/product/3rd-tfs-f-4e-euro-ii-scheme/

To learn more about the Russian TU-95 Bear bomber:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-95

Enjoy the second hour of my interview with my boyhood buddy Mike Reed!

Welcome to this week's episode of Lessons from the Cockpit. This week my best friend from my boyhood Mike Reed callsign COMA was in Utah. He and I sat down to talk about his lessons from flying F-4 Phantoms during the Cold War in the Far East and aeronautical engineering.

Sun Tzu's first chapter in The Art of War opens with the line "The art of war is of vital importance to the State." You may not have an interest in geopolitics but geopolitics will always have an interest in you. Coma explains how geopolitics changed his Air Force career goal and directly influenced real-world missions flying F-4E Phantom IIs fighters at Osan Air Base Korea and Clark Air Base The Philippines.

 Once your passion for aviation is discovered, you will do whatever it takes to overcome the walls and obstacles placed in front of you. Coma shows how he pushed through the walls of geopolitics and a demanding aeronautical engineering senior project to get into Air Force Navigator Training.

All of us were placed here to do great things. Sometimes bad and horrible things happen going through life. Coma's mother taught him the "art of moving along", not letting your past be a roadblock to your future after she survived the Japanese bombing and occupation of Manila during World War II.

The two F-4E Phantom II fighter jets Mike Reed flew can be purchased through our sponsor Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, and hanger at https://wallpilot.com/product/3rd-tfs-f-4e-euro-ii-scheme/

or on my website https://markhasara.com

To learn more about the NASA HIMAT project go here:

https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-025-DFRC.html

To learn more about aerodynamic wings called canards go here:

https://www.boldmethod.com/learn-to-fly/aircraft-systems/canards/

Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show. 

 

On this episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show: Twenty years ago this past Saturday, a phone call at 5:50 in the morning caused me to go from fast asleep to full up war in 30 minutes. The United States was under attack.

While driving into work that day I was doing "Taker Math" in my head, the number of sorties and amount of gas it would take to keep all the fighters and Command and Control planes airborne to maintain a NO FLY ZONE over America, and these numbers will astound you!

Talking with a very good friend of mine this past weekend he told me what a fighter pilot is probably thinking when tasked to shoot down an airliner over the U.S. because on 9/11 there were no rules of engagement to do this. How do you stop a jetliner filled with American citizens from becoming a cruise missile that might be flown by one of your airline buddies?

This episode is sponsored by the book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit available in all four formats on Amazon. 

On this episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show... Many aviators have flown into bad situations or worse killed because they didn't listen to the voice in their heads. The military has a term for this voice: GUT CHECK. Malcomb Gladwell has written an entire book about this gut check phenomenon.

Recently I had a discussion with a close friend and both of our professions, he an EMT in Houston and myself a military pilot, realized we shared similar attributes in working problems. One attribute of gut checks causes our brains to slow down during a crisis yet have total situational awareness of what's happening around us, the problem, and its solution. This attribute often leads to simple solutions to very complex problems never tried before but they work!

As aviators, we really do use our five senses while flying. Our five senses feed problem-solving capacity and intuition. On a flight out of Hawaii, I literally "masked" one of my five senses which would have told me what was really wrong with the plane.

Strap in for another episode of Lessons from the Cockpit!

There is a three-word slogan every aviator memorizes to help deal with emergencies in the air. It's so simple and has saved countless pilot's lives. An instructor in Pilot Training taught me the five commandments of flying complimenting the three-word slogan. On a training sortie, I violated two of them and almost killed myself.

A Navy SEAL taught me a slogan that guides their training philosophy. This slogan is a reason the US Military is the world's finest fighting force on the planet.

Welcome to the Lessons from the Cockpit show!

https://www.nancybrier.com/single-post/2019/04/10/Aviate-Navigate-Communicate