Lessons From The Cockpit

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!