Posted on 03/16/2007 5:12:47 AM PDT by MARKUSPRIME
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla.--For its 60th anniversary the United States Air Force is pulling out all the stops to honor the stars and stripes in the 2007 Gulf Coast Salute to America's Heroes Air Show on March 24.
The F-22 Raptor will be unveiled in its first ever airshow at Tyndall.
Today, News 13 was exclusively given a front-row seat to preview some of the Raptor's stunts such as The Cobra, which takes the Raptor from a 45 degree to a 90 degree angle and into the clouds then nose diving back to lower altitude.
Meet the man inside the cockpit: Maj. Paul Moga.
"They are gonna see some pretty amazing maneuvers out of this jet that look different than anything they've ever seen before and that's really not even a tenth of the Raptor's real capabilities," said Moga while standing inside one of Tyndall's many fighter jet hangars.
Moga is a front man in the Air Force's demo program for the fighter jet.
During his 12-years in the cockpit he's been stationed in Texas, Alaska, The Netherlands and trained F-15 pilots right here at Tyndall Air Force Base before moving on to Langley, the Air Force's combat command center. Langley then selected Moga to pilot the brand new jet.
"People up at Langley where either a little bit too senior in their careers, or they were too young, and I had happened to be down here at Tyndall, and I had been here for a while and it was the right time to move and I had the right qualifications in the right place in the right time," he said.
Moga said after hopping into the cockpit time and time again, coping the notoriously difficult G-force pressures comes as second nature.
The upcoming show is part of the Air Force's effort to flaunt the jet in hopes of getting legislation to approve more tax dollars to research and build more F-22's, as well as train more pilots.
There are reportedly 89 raptors in existence, costing about $133 million dollars each but with that price tag Moga may have a lot of wowing to do.
I'm so glad the reporter felt the need to inject his expert opinion on the matter. /s
Where do you work?
WOW!
Pratt & Whitney
Nice, probably will be the last great manned fighter.
Go to here and look around for some great pics of the Raptor at Oshkosh in 2006:
I'm at the Engine Test Center in Middletown
This one 133 million dollar jet employs a lot of people. That sum is miniscule compared to the money spent on The Great Society. It's been over 40 years since that plan was put in place. We're still waiting to be wowed.
Judging from the pics, you probably live near Tyndall as I do. I guess some of us take for granted what we see everyday. The planes that I end up gawking at are the ones that I don't see everyday...the A10, etc.
Check out that crispy fresh paint job.
99 out the door. I watch them fly almost every day. Sometimes the test pilots give us a show.
I copied that pic. Thanks
Thanks so much for the pix. Wow....
Are you on the north or south side?
If you don't understand. Nevermind.
Both. B-1 & L-22
Welcome to FR
Thanks. Long time reader, cautious poster. If you are here, you know how the PC police can get you.
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