Lessons From The Cockpit

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...

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...

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...

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 26...

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 po...

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 m...

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....

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 for...

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 Leadershi...

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...

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 Orisk...

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, flyi...

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 e...

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 heav...

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 m...

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'...

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 pa...

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...

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...

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 Iraq...

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 a...

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 Deser...

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...

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 Ai...

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...