Lessons From The Cockpit
Welcome to the seventy-seventh episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! I'm your host Mark Hasara, retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and KC-135 pilot. In the second episode with Navy Captain Bo Smith he explains Iron Hand missions, the methods and weapons the US Navy used to destroy Surface to Air Missile Sites or SAMs defending North Vietnam. Bo and his VA-82 Marauders A-7C Corsair II pilots developed more effective tactics with the A-7's improved avionics during the LINEBACKER I and LINEBACKER II air campaigns at the close of the Vietnam War. Leaving the Marauders Bo attended school...
info_outline Flying the A-4 and A-7 with Navy Captain Bo SmithLessons From The Cockpit
Welcome to the seventy-seventh episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show with your host retired Lt Col Mark Hasara, KC-135 pilot and Air Force Weapons School graduate. I was turned on to a great memoier website by my good friend Scott Brown. Navy Captain Bo Smith is responsible for helping create the Navy's IRON HAND Surface to Air Missile or SAM supression procedures during the Vietnam War. His unit went from flying the A-4 Skyhawk with iron gunsights to the fabulous smart airplane the LTV A-7 Corsair II. In this first of a two part series, Bo tells us what it's like flying the A-4 and A-7...
info_outline Lessons Learned with TC CappellettiLessons From The Cockpit
Welcome to the seventy-sixth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! I'm your host Mark Hasara. My circle of friends has expanded because of my book Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit. One of those great friends has vast experience in almost every Boeing airliner... 727, 737, 757, 767, and the Lockheed L-1011 I found out during this show. My good buddy TC Cappelletti is also one of the most knowledgeable military historians I know because he's a voracious reader of history. And most of the books in his library are signed by the folks in those books. TC shares several lessons learned...
info_outline Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red SeaLessons From The Cockpit
Welcome to another episode, the seventy-fifth, of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! I am your host Mark Hasara and for over 60 years my passion has been aviation. The situation in the Red Sea and Gulf of Adan has everyone's attention. It's the continuation of the Proxy War between western powers and the Ayatollahs of Iran and their influence with the Houthi Rebels in Yemen, attacking shipping in one of the largest and wealthiest waterways on the planet. America and our allies have been here before, sometimes with tragic results. The USS Cole was nearly sunk in the Yemeni harbor of Adan after...
info_outline Guns, MIGs, SAMs, and a PushLessons From The Cockpit
Welcome to the seventy-fourth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! I'm your host Mark Hasara, retired KC-135 pilot, author, and entrepreneur! We laid to rest another American veteran this week involved in one of the greatest air strikes of Air Force histroy. He left his mark on aviation because of his incredible courage in the face of overwhelming enemy odds, innovative technique to save two commrades, and airmanship in pulling off a feat which almost got him court martialed. Twenty-two years later an evaluation board awarded him the Silver Star for his efforts to save lives. On this...
info_outline Mole Crickets and Poobah’s Party: Electronic WarfareLessons From The Cockpit
Welcome to the seventy-third episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit Show! I am your host Mark Hasara, former KC-135 pilot and air war planner. The US Air Force is replacing the EC-130H Compass Call with the Gulfstream G550 EA-37B, missioinized to perform the same electronic warfare missions and functions. This episode describes what some of those functions are and gives historical examples from air operations how electronic warfare dominated the battlefield... Israeli Air Force Operation Mole Cricket 19 and the Bekka Valley Turkey Shoot to the opening night of Operation Desert Storm...
info_outline Airlift Tanker Association 2023 ReportLessons From The Cockpit
Welcome to the seventy-second episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! I'm your host Mark Hasara, former KC-135 pilot and aviation geek! My wife Valerie and I attended Air Mobility Command's Symposium at the Gaylord Texan resort in Grapevine Texas. The A/TA Convention aero and cyberspace Industry Exposition was fantastic and I wanted to mention a few things I experienced while walking the Industry Floor... like the Remote Vision System 2.0 now being retrofitted in the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus tanker. General Mike Minihan, commander of Air Moility Command gavve an Did you know airlifters now...
info_outline Flying C-17 Globemaster IIIs with Lee HuntLessons From The Cockpit
Welcome to the seventy first episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit Podcast! I'm your host Mark Hasara, retired KC-135 pilot and 24 plus year veteran of the US Air Force. The C-17 is arguably one of the world's best heavy lift aircraft. Lee Hunt flew The Moose as the C-17 is nicknamed during major theater air campaigns and humanitarian missions. Lee tells listeners about his experiences flying the first end of runway cargo drop to planning missions to the Pegasus Runway in Antarctica. One of the best parts of our discussion is Lee's insights on how John Boyd's Observation - Orientation -...
info_outline Stop or Start a War… Flexible Deterrent Options (FDOs)Lessons From The Cockpit
Welcome to the seventieth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. This one is going to be a little different. For a long time I've contemplated doing TWO podcasts; the current Lessons from the Cockpit on aviation and another called On the Nation's DIME, looking at current events around the world analysed using The DIME. DIME is an acronymn for Diplomatic, Informational, Military and Economic... the elements of national power our government uses to analyse how powerful or weak a nation state or organization is absed on those four elements. Our government also uses the DIME as a...
info_outline Tailhook 23 ReportLessons From The Cockpit
Welcome to the sixty-ninth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! I'm your host Mark Hasara, former US Air Force KC-135 pilot and author of the book Tanker Pilot, now on the Air Mobility Command Leadership Library reading list of General Mike Minihan! This past weekend I attended the Tailhook Association's 2023 convention at the Nugget Resort in Sparks, Nevada as a guest of Admiral Bill Gortney. I was asked to be part of the Operation Iraqi Freedom panel on Friday afternoon discussing the air refueling plan for the Shock and Awe campaign. This podcast episode discusses events and...
info_outlineWelcome to this episode of Lessons from the Cockpit!
There is one thing all US service members promise to their comrades in arms... we leave no one behind! In early March of 2002 coalition forces began military operations in the Shahi-Khot Valley of Afghanistan, known now as Operation Anaconda. The start of this operation did not go well. On 4 March 2002 then Captain Chris Russell, an F-15E Strike Eagle Weapons System Operator, and his pilot Captain Kirk Reichkoff flying as TWISTER 52 took off at midnight from a base near Kuwait City on what became a very long and exhausting sortie. Chris shares with us his lessons learned while covering the downing of a 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment MH-47 Chinook, and the rescue and recovery of SEAL Team MAKO 30 and Petty Officer Neil Roberts after he fell off the helicopter. This is the famous Battle of Roberts Ridge.
Chris was kind enough to send me the cockpit tapes from TWISTER 51 their flight lead. I've included three clips from the audio in this episode towards the end.
The video taken and commentated on by the MQ-1 Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle during the Battle of Roberts Ridge was used for awarding Tech Sgt Chapman his Medal of Honor, the only MOH engagement ever recorded.
A 15-minute interview with Medal of Honor recipient Navy SEAL Team Six Senior Chief Britt Slabinski describing the battle atop Robert's Ridge is found here.
This episode of Lessons from the Cockpit is sponsored by Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit.
Prints of the F-15E Strike Eagle Captain Russell was flying on 4 March 2002 and The Bold Tigers flagship which participated in the opening of Operation Enduring Freedom can be purchased at Wall Pilot.
Please share this and all previous twenty episodes with family and friends found on my website markhasara.com.
Thanks for listening to the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!