MILITARY AVIATION JOURNALISM
FEATURE
BIG SEXY’S LAST DANCE
A high-octane love letter to aviation's greatest gas station
We were climbing up to 25,000 feet somewhere over Big Sur when I found myself strapped in, backward, inside the tail of the beast—the U.S. Air Force's legendary KC-10 Extender, a flying gas station with a soul, hurtling through the California blue sky at 300 knots. Staring out of a large rear-facing window, I watched as the earth slowly rolled by—but in reverse—which was doing strange things to my mind. Or maybe it was the Red Bull I shotgunned right before takeoff. Either way, I was in for a wild ride on the bird they call “Big Sexy.”
FEATURE
FLYING ON THE RAZOR’S EDGE
Strap in for a deep dive into the mindset of Blue Angels lead solo pilot Lcdr Julius Bratton - callsign Whiskers
I’m perched on the edge of a rusty barge floating on the calm waters of Lake Washington. My nervous trigger finger taps on my camera’s shutter button. It’s August, and Seattle’s Seafair air show is in full swing as a massive jigsaw puzzle of beach goers, air show junkies and photographers hold their breath in anticipation of the audacious Blue Angels’ Opposing Knife Edge Pass — a daring, near-miss spectacle of aerobatic bravado and the thrilling blend of aerospace technology and mind-bending skill.
Two blue and gold F/A-18 fighter jets now rapidly approach each other head-on at a staggering 920 mph closure rate. The tension in the crowd builds with an air of anticipation.
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Historic first flight
US Navy pilot Lt. Amanda Lee.
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Glad to be Here
The Blue Angels IMAX film director Paul Crowder reflects on his time with the team and how the icon Blues mantra, Glad to be here, resinated with him.
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Fly-by bye-bye
Pensacola bids farewell to Blue Angels pilot Julius "Whiskers” Bratton.
