Fighter Pilot Podcast

“Putting it All Together” takes concepts from the preceding episodes and explains large scale exercises, introducing assets beyond fighters and even beyond aviation assets to train for modern multi-domain joint operations in settings such as Air Wing Fallon, Red Flag, and the Army’s NTC and JRTC. Host and panel stories illustrate the objectives and processes of these events as they have evolved over time as well as further demonstrate the limitations of exclusively physical training ranges and expense of flight hours both in monetary and airframe costs.

Fight’s On! is an eight-episode series about combat aviation training focusing on how the U.S. takes newly minted (warrant) officers and molds them into combat aviators able to fight and win in today’s high-tech battlespace.

Told through the stories and experiences of U.S. military aviators in their own voices, Fight’s On! takes the listener on the journey of combat aviators from Initial flight training through advanced tactical training and multi-unit exercises, ultimately describing the current and near future systems and programs that will ensure American air dominance into the future.

Fight's On! is a production of Authentic Media in association with BVR Productions.

The first Fight's On! episode, Wings of Gold, chronicles the path of naval aviators from college graduate through winging and beyond.

Fight’s On! is an eight-episode series about combat aviation training focusing on how the U.S. takes newly minted officers and warrant officers and molds them into combat aviators able to fight and win in today’s high-tech battlespace.

Told through the stories and experiences of U.S. military aviators in their own voices, Fight’s On! will take the listener on the journey of combat aviators from Initial flight training through advanced tactical training and multi-unit exercises, ultimately describing the current and near future systems and programs that will ensure American air dominance into the future.

Fight's On! is a production of Authentic Media in association with BVR Productions.

U.S. Air Force Colonel (sel) Tom "WCMD" Meagher and former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Beau "Stewie" Griffith describe how advancements in technology, electric propulsion, and government / industry partnerships are accelerating development of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

Learn more about AFWERX here: https://www.afwerx.af.mil/

Agility Prime: https://afwerx.com/agility-prime/

The Fighter Pilot Podcast would not be possible without the support of the hundreds of veterans who served both in uniform and, in this case, in the studio.

To those who have served: happy Veterans Day and thank you, from a grateful nation.

Jet aircraft are well known for their role in air warfare, appearances on the silver screen, and wowing audiences at airshows worldwide, but did you know a small group of brave, mostly former military, pilots meet in the desert north of Reno, Nevada each September to race them?

On this episode, retired Nevada ANG Major Rick Vandam and retired U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Peter "Tool" Stavrides discuss the who / what / when / where / why / and—particularly—how former military jet aircraft compete in the Reno Air Races jet class, the fastest competitive motorsport on (...ok, just slightly above) earth.

Listener questions addressed on this episode include how ordnance, fuel tanks, and other stores attach to fighter aircraft, the AN/APX-111 antenna blades on the front of some F-16's and F/A-18's, and why pilots' heads bump forward slightly at the end of an aircraft catapult stroke.

Bumper music by Jaime Lopez / announcements by Clint Bell.