Taking Flight with Michael "Rocket" Blackstone

In this episode, Michael takes you back to 1986, the year of TopGun and shares how Air Combat USA was created. From the time Michael was a child, he and his father loved fighter aircraft. Michael's passion for Basic Fighter Maneuvers (BFM) comes out, as he shares what it was like to teach aerial combat for over 4,000 hours in the Marchetti SF-260! 3-2-1 Fights On!

In this episode, Michael introduces you to the art of flying fighters. If you have always wondered what flying a WWII fighter is like and how to get the most performance from your flying machine, this episode is for you. Michael walks you through what Angle-of-Attack (AOA) is and how it works, the difference between Rate vs. Radius and what the Lift Vector is used for while flying the Marchetti SF260 "right to the edge of the envelope" in a Basic Fighter Maneuvers (BFM) 1 vs 1 Dogfight! 3-2-1 Fight's On!!

In this episode, Michael takes you on an epic 1,090 mile journey from Orange County, CA to Sherman, Texas in his open cockpit Waco biplane. Michael and his friends son, Danny, who is learning to fly, gets the experience of a lifetime flying with Michael in his beautiful open cockpit Waco biplane for 12.5 hours of stick and rudder time. Experience what it was like to fly a 1935 designed aircraft, when even a gentle 10 knot crosswind made for a formidable challenge. You will find out what it takes to fly an open cockpit Waco in instrument conditions out of John Wayne Orange County (KSNA) before dawn, fly across the Arizona and New Mexico deserts when its nearly 100 degrees, fly over Possum Kingdom and into the Dallas Forth Worth, Texas area for a night landing at 9 pm on a hot summer day in 2020.

In this episode, Michael talks about what the most exciting areas in aviation are. From the time Michael experienced flight for the first time, aerobatics has been the most influential on his decision to make flying his life. Formation flying, and aerial combat in his father's company Air Combat USA in the Marchetti SF-260s sealed the deal. If you are looking for a reason to learn to fly, here are 5 reasons to start today, for a life of incredible adventures, trips to far away places, on your days off, to flying corporate jets on your way to the major airlines.

In this episode, Michael highlights the optimal traits and personality characteristics of the best pilots he has had the pleasure of flying with over the last 30 years. There are many similarities between all pilots when it comes to following Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), following the checklist, attention to detail, discipline, and honing our flying skills. There are so many ways we pilots get extraordinaryly good at managing our careers and our personal lives. Michael then digs a bit deeper and goes into some of the sacrifices, shortcomings, and deficiencies that become an accomplished pilot has had on his personal life. For every action (or lack thereof), there is an equal and opposite reaction, or some consequences that will be manifested for everything we do. Taking massive action will reap many rewards in this arena, but always be cognizant of the potential ramifications of how your actions or your delivery may be received by others who don't fly for a living. Be kind. Be understanding. Be patient. Life is about striking a balance. Like your aircraft you must find your personal center of gravity and stay within the limits.