Cloud Thirty Seven Aviation
The page about flying
Here is a quick and dirty list of the major aircraft that I have flown in my career (in no particular order):
The F-15E Strike Eagle as a Flight Lead in the US Air Force. I flew the F-15E for only six of my 12 years in the AF, but I accrued a number of stories from those days. Check them out in the “Mostly True” section of my Short Stories page.
Photo Credit is from Airliners.net.
The Piaggio Avanti 1 as a corporate pilot and aircraft manager. This is a very cool plane – flies way faster, smoother and quieter (at least inside the aircraft!) than most any turbo prop. We were lucky enough to be featured in AOPA magazine (turbine edition) – Check it out here: Head turner – AOPA.
Photo credit is from a photo shoot with Pat Belanger. I’m flying the Piaggio.
The Icon A5 as a demonstration and instructor pilot for the manufacturer, Icon Aircraft. Probably the most controversial aircraft I flew, but I can truly say that some of my favorite, most memorable moments in flying came while flying this aircraft. Truly, it is an engineering marvel and, for what it is, does what it was intended to do very well. It is unfortunate that people rarely stick to their training, nor do they stick to engineering intention. But this is another plane that I would fly any day at the drop of a hat.
Photo Credit: Me, after beaching it on a beautiful day on Lake Berryessa in California.
Various forms of the King Air: the 200 as a single pilot medevac; 300/350 as a charter Captain and the MC-12 as a reconnaissance Mission Commander in the Air Force. A true workhorse and the pickup truck of the charter aviation world. I feel like I really learned how to become an independently minded aviation professional in this aircraft. There is a certain amount of independence and self-reliance that this aircraft teaches and that shows in how myself and other pilots that I’ve met who fly king airs treat their aircraft and the art of flying in general. I believe that makes us better and any pilot worth their salt should at least have a couple hundred hours in one of these things to show you how to just make it work.
Photo Credit: My copilot at the time (name lost to history) with my phone, so I don’t feel too bad about it. I’m delivering the most important part of any charter flight: customer service.
The F-5 Tiger II as contract adversary air against the US Air Force and Navy. I never thought I’d be able to fly fighter jets after leaving the Air Force in 2016, but I was wrong. The F-5 was an immensely fun aircraft to fly, simple yet effective in its own way. It was also a joy working with Navy and Marine Corps pilots whom I did not have a lot of experience with as a Mudhen driver. I definitely learned a lot from them and can appreciate guys who are ‘really good landing the aircraft.’
Photo Credit: Me, holding short ready for a mission at the Fallon range complex.
The T-6 Texan II as a Flight Instructor. Amazingly, though I flew it for less than four years total, I have more time in this aircraft than any other (at time of posting) – a testament to the pace of operations in pilot training and the way that the Air Force utilizes FAIPs (First Assignment Instructor Pilots). I became a professional pilot in this aircraft and learned more about the craft of flying through teaching than I ever did as a student or in any other job (also way more than I was ever able to pass on to my unfortunate students).
Picture Credit: This was from our phase 2 UPT slide show, so it could have been any number of handsome gentlemen (not pictured), but if you know who took this picture, let me know and I’ll credit them here. We obviously took our jobs very seriously.