I've gotten several e-mails over the last few days (thanks y'all) about the website www.phonyfighterpilot.com, and I had not gotten around to checking it out. My Bad. It's written as a prologue to a book by an ex-Air Force Tanker Pilot, a registered Reagan Republican who is now one of the most eloquent Kerry supporters I've seen. Hugh Scott and I disagree on Ronald Reagan, but there could not be more congruence with respect to the 1600 Crew. One word: WoW.
There are too many good parts to start excerpting many but this is pretty good
I first learned of Bush's possible aerophobia while reading All the Best, one of his daddy's autobiographies. In the 1999 publication, George H.W. referred to his first offspring's military service in just one place. Within a 1968 - 1969 timeframe, the former 41st U.S. president wrote, "Last weekend, our son came home leaving his frightening jet behind in Georgia."
Frightening jet? I wondered at the time.
I suspected the impression had come from Dub-ya since his father had been a WWII naval aviator who was clearly unafraid of military aircraft.
As for me, I’m an ex-USAF pilot, former Strategic Air Command (SAC) combat crewmember and retired Continental Airlines captain. I’ve flown over 16,000 hours in multiengine jet aircraft, most of it for Continental, and not once did I ever hear a cockpit crewmember say he or she had operated a "frightening" plane. Real fliers don’t think that way.
So exactly how did George W. describe his USAF flight school experience?
Just the way I had thought. On page 51 of his 1999 autobiography, A Charge to Keep (hardcopy edition), Bush admitted in regards to his primary pilot training, "I’ll never forget one of the first flights with my new instructor--a tough, gruff Georgian. I was intimidated by him. I was even more frightened when he suddenly pulled the nose up and deliberately stalled the plane."
As for the instructor “deliberately” stalling the plane--of course, he did that! Stalls aren’t accidental maneuvers and they are always briefed before each flight. But then, advance warnings don’t matter to student pilots who piss in their flight suits on takeoff.
...you have to check out the website. If there are more Republicans who feel the way Mr. Scott does, I'll sleep better tonight.
posted by Jo Fish on 09.07.04 at 12:49 AM
Comments:
read over at http://badattitudes.com/MT/ where an old soldier confront's some Bush/Cheney supporters and asks them why they aren't in Iraq. Good Stuff.
posted by: Yankee in exile on 09.07.04 at 07:09 AM [permalink]
Rest easy, Jo. There are lots of Republicans like Mr. Scott. Every Republican I know at Chaffin's Barn (except Fred Thompson's brother and the owner) are not voting for George Bush. They feel betrayed.
The owner says he's going to close the Barn if Kerry wins, because he won't be able to afford the taxes. Guess I'd better start looking for another job!
This is pretty weak stuff. Even if you know that learning to recover from stalls is going to be part of flight training, it's still an uncomfortable thing for a novice pilot to experience--that's why they force you to go through it, so you recognize it when you feel it (before you get into IFR training).
If it's done when you're not expecting it, of course you're going to be surprised.
The "phonyfighterpilot" blog is even weaker. He recycles all sorts of old, disproven innuendo and resorts to illogical arguments. Especially sorry is calling Bush I a coward because he bailed out of flaming plane.
Remind me again how that is different from asking for a Purple Heart for a self-inflicted scratch?
posted by: Republican Veteran on 09.07.04 at 08:24 PM [permalink]
Heh! When Georgie Weorgie was on the top of the world in the polls, my republican parents were already disgusted with him and looking at which democrat they were going to vote for!
This was back in 2003 at the start of the Iraq invasion.
There has been alot of defections, and there are more to follow.
I remember the first time we did an autorotation in a Huey. I was briefed by the Crew Chief. I had no clue. He said 'simulated dual engine failure, followed by autorotation simulated emergency landing'.
As for our republican vet friend, remind me where we can find said documentation to support your claim. Then and only then will we have a basis for a rational discussion.
Naval records indicate otherwise. Stop reading the propoganda my friend.
Semper Fidelis
posted by: Barndog on 09.08.04 at 06:44 AM [permalink]
Bolol, Fred's not a President, but he played one on TV.
Maybe Thompson the lobbyist could play President. He's a better actor than Ahnold, a better cowboy than AWOL.
Something must have made him 'retire'. Bush must have dug enough dirt on him to make him a Bush apologist.
He was a person some moderates would consider voting for , what was Fred's faux-pas?
Well aside from the Diebold-Knoxville scam , jerrymandering Gore's state from under him, and and understaffing Black.Latin polling lines.
Other than those things that would make most people never vote for, Fred is an okay guy...
posted by: Mr.Murder on 09.08.04 at 11:39 PM [permalink]
vote for him*
posted by: Mr.Murder on 09.08.04 at 11:39 PM [permalink]
Re recent barbs at my new book, "George Dub-ya Bush, the Phony Fighter Pilot."
Why is it that rightwing Republicans attack anyone critical of President Bush's dishonorable Air National Guard service but they never defend it?
Answer: They can't defend it.
Here are other questions neo-cons won't address:
1. Who wrote and approved the bogus Bush bio I found on the State Department website -- that one that claimed George flew Dueces almost SIX YEARS instead of 27 months indicated by USAF documents?
2. Why did Lt. Bush quit flying F102s thirty months before the end of his sworn duty tour?
3. Why did he refuse to take his annual flight physical in June 1972?
4. Why wasn't he reprimanded for the failure?
5. Why did Dub-ya get an Air Force commission with NO officer training after just six weeks of basic for enlisted airmen cut short seven days to work for the GOP in Florida?
The answers are in my book. You can read the ENTIRE manuscript FREE OF CHARGE at www.PhonyFighterPilot.com
Finally, I have a suggestion on how to settle the Vietnam issue. Let Kerry and Bush duke it out.
For any neo-con dumb enough to bet on Bush the Coward-hearted, I'll wager my house against their garden hose and take home an extra reel of rubber.
Here's another suggestion for you gutless rightwing wonders. Read what a REAL conservative has to say, "How the Right Went Wrong," by Pat Buchanan. You can buy it at Costco for $14.
Another enlightening book is "Battle Ready," by Tom Clancy and General Tony Zinni.
General Zinni, a four-star Marine and former CenCom commander, says Iraq is the "wrong war at the wrong time" and resulted from failed leadership at the top. But then, why should we believe Zinni, a Vietnam combat vet, over Bush and Cheney -- two dry-drunk draftdodgers who think a radio-controlled model airplane with a 10-mile range is a WMD delivery system?
Case closed on neo-con stupidity.
PS Here is the latest BODY COUNT for Gulf War 2. American military deaths: 1,003. Al Qaeda terrorists killed in Iraq: 0.
Re recent barbs at my new book, "George Dub-ya Bush, the Phony Fighter Pilot."
Why is it that rightwing Republicans attack anyone critical of President Bush's dishonorable Air National Guard service but they never defend it?
Answer: They can't defend it.
Here are other questions neo-cons won't address:
1. Who wrote and approved the bogus Bush bio I found on the State Department website -- that one that claimed George flew Dueces almost SIX YEARS instead of 27 months indicated by USAF documents?
2. Why did Lt. Bush quit flying F102s thirty months before the end of his sworn duty tour?
3. Why did he refuse to take his annual flight physical in June 1972?
4. Why wasn't he reprimanded for the failure?
5. Why did Dub-ya get an Air Force commission with NO officer training after just six weeks of basic for enlisted airmen cut short seven days to work for the GOP in Florida?
The answers are in my book. You can read the ENTIRE manuscript FREE OF CHARGE at www.PhonyFighterPilot.com
Finally, I have a suggestion on how to settle the Vietnam issue. Let Kerry and Bush duke it out.
For any neo-con dumb enough to bet on Bush the Coward-hearted, I'll wager my house against their garden hose and take home an extra reel of rubber.
Here's another suggestion for you gutless rightwing wonders. Read what a REAL conservative has to say, "How the Right Went Wrong," by Pat Buchanan. You can buy it at Costco for $14.
Another enlightening book is "Battle Ready," by Tom Clancy and General Tony Zinni.
General Zinni, a four-star Marine and former CenCom commander, says Iraq is the "wrong war at the wrong time" and resulted from failed leadership at the top. But then, why should we believe Zinni, a Vietnam combat vet, over Bush and Cheney -- two dry-drunk draftdodgers who think a radio-controlled model airplane with a 10-mile range is a WMD delivery system?
Case closed on neo-con stupidity.
PS Here is the latest BODY COUNT for Gulf War 2. American military deaths: 1,003. Al Qaeda terrorists killed in Iraq: 0.
