Celebrity Backseaters

Its called... Publicity, which is very good for recruiting.

My a$$... go ask any kid on the street who had a ride in a 16... Kids don't care... Nothing but a photo op.

Carrot Top also got a ride in a Viper. He flew with my unit Richmond's 192 FW Virginia Air Nat. Guard. I heard that his brother flies...don't know if that's true or not. It really pisses me off though that a celeb will get a ride faster than the jet's CC.

I don't care how good the PR is... it kills the morale of your maintainers when someone with money and status gets a ride before you do.

Enough said.
Cheers!

Boston Governor Romney was offered a ride and was supposedly even allowed to fly the plane for about 45 minutes over Utah and Arizona. When they eventually landed he promptly threw up.

It's kinda funny if you think about it, you laugh as a crew chief because they couldn't keep their lunch, but then you're pissed 'cause the puked in your jet.....
Cheers!

Dubya got one hell of a ride, but that is a different story.

Didnt Monica Bellucci fly with the Italian Freche Tricolore in 02? I know she was offered a ride. Anyone?

Shev

Digging for a relevant story Vypergrl. Hang tight!

Beers and MiGs were made to be pounded!

Vypergrl,

Here's one I posted on the Tomcat incentive ride page, concerning pilots who were also pi$$ed about taking up other people before their crew dogs.

I still think the funniest story of an incentive ride comes from my pops (a fmr. Rhino crewdog, among other aircraft as well). Anyway, the story goes something like this:

When he was working on Recon Rhinos @ Shaw in the mid-70s, they were scheduled to get some AFA cadets in for RF-4 rides. There was a big meeting with the squadron C/C, the pilots, and the ground crew, who would be launching the missions. One of the pilots, a captain, himself an Academy grad, and self-professed hater of fellow officers, flat out refused to take a cadet up. His reason being, that the crew chiefs had not yet received their incentive rides (sounds like a good enough reason to me). He gladly offered to take up a crew chief, but he flatly vetoed a ride for a cadet, saying something to the effect of "Those little pukes are nothing but a bunch of prima donnas that think their $hit doesn't stink and I don't even want to be around any of them, much less fly one of them."

About this time, another pilot, a high-time major, that Dad still swears had flown since the Wright Bros. spoke up and said "Give me one of them little sonofabitches. I'll give him a ride he won't ever forget either!"

Dad told me, "The bad part about this? Of all the planes in the squadron they could have assigned this ride to, guess whose plane they pick?"...Oh $hit!...

Anyway, the jet launches for what is supposed to be a 30-45 min ride...

...It was back in 15!

So Dad marshalls the plane back in, and when he goes to put the jet in the chocks, he looks up. He sees the major, but...no cadet in the back...Looks again...there's the major...where the f*#% is the cadet? Then, the canopies open, and the jet shuts down. Dad gets the ladders up, and when he gets up to the backseat, the kid is laying with his face between his knees. He's covered in puke, the backseat is covered in puke, even the canopy had puke running down the inside of it. He said the kids flightsuit was no longer OD green, but brown.

Apparently, when the major had done enough snap rolls, and tight turns to get the kid's breakfast to back up on him, the major heard him barf, and then shoved the stick foward for some negative G's...Oops! Now, you've thrown up, and BACK!

Dad got much pleasure from making the kid clean up his mess, and we both still get a kick out of his story.

Beers and MiGs were made to be pounded!

TC, keep these stories coming bro. They are great.

Shev

Hahahahahah WAY too funny! But I wonder? Would a pilot happily give an incentive ride to a Cadet (I.E. me) who was a crew dawg for years and was a prior service SSGT? I would think that on those rare occasions, and they are rare to have prior E's in AFROTC in college, that the pilot wouldn't be so grumpy about it?

Who knows... all I know is that the incentive ride program at my base was...um..non-existant and I never got a ride....but Carrot Top did and that pissed me off.

Cheers!

Bill Elliot...saw his name up there. He got that Viper ride at Hill, but he also got an Eagle ride at Dobbins back in the '80s, and no bull$hit, they had a midair during the ride! They hit a Viper. I belive the guy in the Viper caused it, had to punch out, and Awesome Bill From Dawsonville landed safely

I heard from a guy that was in that F-15 unit that the Viper hooked a missle rail into the intake of the F-15 that Bill Elliot was in.

I'll let you in on three secrets Vypergrl...

1) You are a female. Unless you get a female pilot, they WILL take it easy on you.

2) You aren't an Academy cadet. You are ROTC, which also helps gain you some points. Those who weren't Academy, AND even some who were (reference the above Captain) DON'T LIKE Academy cadets!

3) You are prior AF, AND you were a Crew Dog. You automatically get street cred with whomever flies you.

Wait 'til your Field Training. If you want a T-37 ride, and you qualify (medically-speaking) you shall have one. I see you are a Cavalier. Just hope that your pilot is NOT a Hokie!

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About Bill Elliott...I heard the same description of the midair that you described. The Viper's missile rail hooked the intake, and ripped the 16's wing off. He punched out, and Elliott and his pilot landed unscathed...

...He might've had to change his shorts, but other than that he was fine.

Beers and MiGs were made to be pounded!

The F-16 involved was <A href="f-16_fighting_falcon_airframe-599.html">79-0419</a> and it returned to base with the pilot (I kn ow the pilot but hesitate to share his name)in command and Bill Elliot in the backseat;.

The F-15 went down after the pilot ejected. The F-16 pilot went on to fly many years. 419 went on to be repaired and flew several years before it was involved in a fatal crash that killed both aircrew.

I think the F-15 flight test here has flown a good portion of NASCAR pukes. They only got sick when doing right turns.

The F-16 involved was 79-0419 and it returned to base with the pilot (I kn ow the pilot but hesitate to share his name)in command and Bill Elliot in the backseat;. The F-15 went down after the pilot ejected. The F-16 pilot went on to fly many years. 419 went on to be repaired and flew several years before it was involved in a fatal crash that killed both aircrew.

sounds like a very un-mojoish f-16