Episode #113: Strategy and Tactics for the Surge with Joe Katuzeinski
Lessons From The Cockpit
šļø Episode ā Lessons from the Cockpit Welcome to another mission-ready episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! Iām your host Lt. Col. Mark Hasara, retired Air Force KC-135 pilot, Weapons School graduate, and aviation fanatic for over 60 years. Strap in for this oneābecause weāre bringing serious airpower experience to the table. Joining me today is one of the smartest Air Force officers Iāve ever worked withāLt. Col. Joe āTAZZā Katuzeinski. He and I go way back to our Weapons and Tactics days at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa in the '90s. Since then, TAZZ has led combat...
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Episode #112: When do you CEASE FIRE?
Lessons From The Cockpit
šļø Episode 112 ā How Do You Know When to Stop the Fight? Welcome back to another airpower-packed episode of Lessons from the Cockpit! Iām your host Lt. Col. Mark Hasara, retired KC-135 Weapons Officer and Joint Specialty Officer. For 60 years, Iāve lived and breathed aviation. Today we are going to talk about a very tough aspect of planning for war! Hereās the question Iāve been getting all week: āMark, how do you know when itās time to stop shooting?ā How does a war end? Who decides when the mission is complete? And what happens if we stop too lateāor too soon? This...
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Episode #111: Operation Rising Lion and US Response Options
Lessons From The Cockpit
šļø Episode 111 ā Operation Rising Lion: Israelās Knockout Blow to Iran! Strap in for the 111th episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! Iām Mark Hasara, retired Air Force KC-135 pilot, Weapons School graduate, and the guy whoās been obsessed with aviation for over 60 years. This episode dives into one of the most aggressive and precise modern air campaigns weāve seen in decadesāOperation Rising Lion. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) just delivered a massive punch to Iranās military command, nuclear program scientists, religious leaders, and ballistic missile...
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Episode #110 ā The Drone Swarm Wake-Up Call: Is the US and our Allies Ready?
Lessons From The Cockpit
šļø Episode 110 ā The Drone Swarm Wake-Up Call: Is the US and our Allies Ready? Welcome to the 110th episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! Iām Mark Hasara, former Air Force KC-135 pilot, Weapons School graduate, and author of Tanker Pilot. For 60 years, aviation has been my worldāfrom flying gas station in the sky to mission planning at the highest levels of command. This episode is a battle cry. š„ Ukraine Just Changed the Air Warfare Game Over the weekend, Ukraine launched one of the boldest moves weāve ever seen in modern air warfare: a long-range drone swarm strike...
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Episode #109 ā From MiG-21s to the A-10 Hawg: The Incredible Journey of Major Joszph āBoaratā Jonas
Lessons From The Cockpit
šļø EPISODE 109 ā From MiG-21 to A-10 Hawg: The Incredible Journey of Lt Col Joszph āBoaratā Jonas Welcome back to Lessons from the Cockpit, the show that brings you stories and lessons learned from aviators who've been there, done that, and brought the jet home. Iām Mark HasaraāKC-135 instructor pilot, Air Force Weapons School grad, author of Tanker Pilot, and your host for Episode 109. This oneās going to hit you right between the afterburners. āļø From Opposing Forces to Brothers-in-Arms My guest is Cliff Wilson, an Air Force C-141 Starlifter driver and UPT instructor in...
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Episode #108 ā The Tanker Worldās in Trouble: ARSAG, Anaconda, and Global Tensions on the Nationās DIME.
Lessons From The Cockpit
šļø EPISODE #108 ā The Tanker Worldās in Trouble: ARSAG, Anaconda, and Global Tensions on the Nationās DIME Strap in and listen up, warriors. Welcome to Episode 108 of the Lessons from the Cockpit Show. Iām Lt Col Mark Hasara, USAF (Ret.)āKC-135 pilot, Weapons School grad, Joint Specialty Officer, and your host for this mission. I just got back from Air Refueling Systems Advisory Group or ARSAG 2025 at Planet Hollywood in Vegasāa gathering of the best and sharpest minds in global air refueling planning and operations. Senior leaders from the USAF, Royal Air Force, and RAAF, and...
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Episode #107 ā Hercules to Hawgs: Flying Both Ends of the Fight with Col. Derek āWoodyā Oaks
Lessons From The Cockpit
šļø Episode 107 ā Hercules to Hawgs: Flying at Both Ends of the Fight with Col. Derek āWoodyā Oaks. Welcome aboard the 107th sortie of the Lessons from the Cockpit Show Iām Lt Col Mark Hasara, USAF (Ret.), KC-135 Weapons Officer and your pilot for todayās mission. Iāve flown jets, built war plans, and stayed hopelessly addicted to aviation for over 60 years. This week? You're in for one hell of a ride. After two attempts, we finally locked in this high-value target: Col. Derek āWoodyā Oaks, a pilot who flew both ends of the Air Force spectrumāfrom hauling cargo in the...
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Episode #104: Black Jets and Gucci Birds with Retired Lt Col Mike Ethridge
Lessons From The Cockpit
Welcome to Episode 104 of Lessons from the Cockpit! Iām Mark Hasara, former KC-135 pilot, author of Tanker Pilot: Lessons from the Cockpit, and a lifelong aviation fanatic. For over 60 years, aviation has been my passion, and this show brings you stories from the cockpit, the mission planning room, and beyond. This week, I sit down with Mike Ethridge, a longtime friend and fellow Air Force aviator. We met as cadets at BYUās ROTC Detachment 855, and he went on to fly the KC-10A Extender, KC-135s and every Boeing airframe Delta Airlines has flown around the world. Whatās in This...
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Episode #105: Lessons from Marine Corps Aviation with Colonel Byron āShrekā Sullivan
Lessons From The Cockpit
EPISODE #105 ā Marine Airpower, the Battle of Ramadi, and Flying the Beast: The F-35 and MV-22 Strap in and arm hot, folksāthis oneās a burner. Welcome to Episode 105 of the Lessons from the Cockpit show! Iām your host Mark Hasara, retired KC-135 pilot, author of Tanker Pilot, and a lifelong aviation nut with over 60 years of airpower obsession. This week, I sit down with Colonel Byron āShrekā Sullivan, a retired United States Marine Corps airpower warrior. And trust meāthis is the kind of episode that makes your hair stand up. "Shrek" is a Marineās Marineācombat leader,...
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Episode #106: Lessons from Marine Corps Aviation with Shrek Sullivan and Glibby Gillette
Lessons From The Cockpit
š§ Episode 106 ā Rewriting the Rules of Marine Airpower Welcome back to Lessons from the Cockpit! Iām your host, retired Air Force Lt Col Mark āSluggoā HasaraāKC-135 pilot, Joint Specialty Officer, and full-throttle aviation fanatic for over 60 years. In this episode, we finish a powerful two-part dive into Marine Corps aviation weapons, tactics, techniques, and procedures with my good friend Colonel Byron āShrekā Sullivan. Shrek is a combat-proven pilot with time in both the F/A-18 Hornet and the F-35 Lightning II. And about halfway through the episode, weāre joined by the...
info_outlineWelcome to the fifty-sixth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast! I really appreciate all of you tuning in and downloading this and previous episodes of the show.
One of the great memories of my KC-135 career was flying at low altitude with a receiver behind us. My first introduction to the planning and execution of low-altitude refueling was at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa. All of our 909th Air Refueling Squadron tanker crews were certified to do this technique and procedure. This episode discusses the whys and hows of low-altitude air refueling with examples from training and actual combat. The lowest we'd go in the KC-135 is 3000 feet above the terrain, typically refueling the A-10 at 9000 to 10,000 feet. One international Air Force established the record for the lowest altitude refueling on an operational mission in one of the most daring and successful air strikes in the history of aerial warfare!
The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is financed by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. These are very detailed profiles of aircraft printed on vinyl you can peel off and stick to any flat surface. One hundred twenty-seven Ready-to-Print profiles are available in four, six, and eight-foot-long prints. If there is a favorite aircraft you'd like to have your name, unit, tail codes, and weapons load, we can create a custom print for you too. The form is on the website.
A 909th Air Refueling Squadron KC-135 R Model print is available in the Ready-to-Print section here.
The KC-10 has also done low-altitude air refueling. A print of a Travis AFB KC-10 from the 60th Air Mobility Wing is available in the Ready-to-Print section here.
An F-4E of the 3rd TFS based at Clark Air Base in The Philippines which flew missions during Operation Desert Storm from Incirlik Air Base Turkey and participated in the 1989 GUNSMOKE bombing and gunnery competition at Nellis AFB can be purchased here.
Thanks for downloading this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast, found on my website at markhasara.com.
We look forward to talking with you next week!