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 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.

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.