AmericasNavy

Unlike the Air Force, Navy pilots aren’t allowed to have cool call signs. Even if it sounds cool, there’s always an embarrassing story behind it. Long story short, when we were underway on the aircraft carrier, I got sick prior to going flying. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize it until I strapped into the cockpit. Within seconds, I was leaning over the side of the canopy painting the side of the jet with my lunch. In the Navy, when the maintainers have to wash the aircraft, they call it a “Wash Job”. From then on, the call sign stuck.

For every hour of flying we do during a training mission, there’s countless hours of preparation, rehearsal, briefing, and debriefing. Just as important as being a good pilot is being humble enough to learn and being able to teach others.

To be in the mind of Kenny Loggins for one day...

Correct! The Navy has F-16A (single seat) and F-16B (twin seat) aircraft located at NAS Fallon, NV. We use the F-16 as an aggressor aircraft because it has a higher ‘thrust-to-weight’ ratio than the USN FA-18E/F Super Hornet. This allows the students to fight an aircraft with dissimilar performance, and trains them to use their strengths in combat and capitalize on the adversary aircraft’s weaknesses. At TOPGUN, I fly the FA-18E/F Super Hornet, the legacy FA-18C Hornet, as well as the F-16 Fighting Falcon, commonly referred to as the ‘Viper’.

During the TOPGUN course the students normally fly once per day, twice depending on the types of missions we’re training to (e.g. Dogfighting). On average we probably log 5-8 flight hours per week. As far as the longest time anyone has spent in a cockpit, I’ve heard stories from friends deployed overseas that have spent as many as 8 hours in the jet at one time.