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 the forty-fifth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast!
The Air Force created a super-secret squadron located in the Nellis Air Force Base Range Complex, The 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron called "The Red Eagles." Rob Zettel is one of the world's subject matter experts on adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures from his experience flying the F-5E Tiger II with the 26th Aggressors in The Philippines and Russian Mig-21 Fishbed and MiG-23 Flogger fighters with the 4477th Test and Evaluation Squadron Red Eagles. Z-Man discusses his experiences flying F-4 Phantoms and being an Aggressor pilot with the famous Red Eagles.
Two books are available on the 4477th TES, the first called America's Secret MiG Squadron: The Red Eagles of Constant Peg written by one of the founders Colonel Gail Peck. The second book is Red Eagles: America's Secret MiGs by Steve Davies.
Prints of the MiG-21 and MiG-23 Rob flew with the Red Eagles are available from Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These four, six, or eight-foot-long prints can be framed or peeled off and stuck to any flat surface.
Prints of the 26th Aggressor Squadron F-5E Tiger II painted in Russian GRAPE and SNAKE paint schemes are also available from Wall Pilot.
Thanks for downloading and listening to the show. Please share episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast with your friends and family. This and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast can be found on my website.
Next week we talk to a US Navy SH-3 Sea King pilot and learn how the Sikorsky Sea King came about and some of the incredible missions the Sea King was equipped to perform... including carrying nuclear weapons!
Thanks for listening and we will talk to you next week on the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast.