Honorary commanders receive flight of their lives

  • Published
  • By 1st. Lt. Matthew Stines
  • 366th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office
MOUNTAIN HOME AIR FORCE BASE, Idaho --  Several local community members did their best to "keep it together" while receiving F-15E orientation flights here Nov. 30.

Four members of the 366th Fighter Wing's Honorary Commanders Program were selected for the F-15 orientation flights after their names were drawn from the pool of nearly 30 honorary commanders. Jimmy Orr, Glenns Ferry Chamber of Commerce president, John Feenstra, TLK Dairies Inc., Ray Liercke, Liercke Construction, and Paula Riggs, Washington Mutual Bank, were all smiles at the July 27th Air Expeditionary Force Day honorary commanders visit as Col. Jack McMullen, 366th Operations Group commander, announced they would receive an F-15 flight.

The honorary commanders program provides local community leaders a chance to experience the wing's mission first hand. Designed to increase the understanding of the Mountain Home AFB and Air Force missions, the program pairs community leaders with the wing leadership to forge new relationships and enhance understanding between the base and community.

"It is an education process for both civilian and military personnel," said Colonel McMullen.

Prior to their flight, the honorary commanders traveled to the 389th and 391st fighter squadrons' life support sections, where aircrew flight equipment personnel fitted and provided them with flight suits, boots, G-suits, harnesses, helmets and oxygen masks.

After getting their equipment issued, they received egress training from the 366th Operations Support Squadron. The purpose of egress training is to learn how to exit the aircraft in the event of an emergency on the ground and in the air. The egress procedures consisted of a preflight harness check, canopy check to inspect for holes and tears in the parachute, techniques for visor and mask removal during freefall, explanation of seat kit separation following ejection, and maneuvering with the parachute to execute a safe parachute landing fall.

"PLF training is scary," said Mr. Feenstra before his flight. "You have to know what you are doing. Hopefully we won't have to use this."

"They looked pretty good," said Capt. Brie Wilson, 391st Fighter Squadron pilot, who assisted Capt. Mark "Kaiser" Schmidt, 391st Fighter Squadron, with egress training. "It's a lot of information to go through. It's hard to recall all of the information, but if the situation occurs it needs to be like second nature for them."

After their egress training, the honorary commanders traveled to flight medicine where they received extensive flight physicals.

"I'm ready to go!" said Mr. Feenstra prior to his orientation flight. "I am very excited this day has finally come. Being an honorary commander is a unique experience and has taught me so much about the wing and the Air Force. Not many people have the opportunity to see what we've seen and best of all, being selected to fly in an F-15 is as good as winning the lottery."

"Oh heck yeah!" said Mr. Liercke as he prepared for his flight. "I'm ready! Let's go! Being an honorary commander is an excellent experience short of joining the service."

"I'm excited and nervous," said Mrs. Riggs, whose F-15 flight was her first time in any aircraft. "Hopefully this experience will get me over my fear of flying."

Both Mr. Feenstra and Mr. Liercke had their flights early that wintry Friday morning. Mr. Feenstra teamed with Captain Schmidt, while Mr. Liercke flew with Maj. Thomas "Tomcat" Hancock, 391st Fighter Squadron.

"We flew over C.J. Strike Dam, the training range, Boise State University and TLK dairy where I work," said Mr. Feenstra after landing. "The flight was an adrenaline rush with plenty of barrel rolls. Holy crap! That was awesome!"

"He did a nice job!" said Captain Schmidt. "He did not scream like I expected. It was a really nice break to get to perform these orientation flights."

"The flight was awesome!" said Mr. Liercke after his flight." I would do it again if given the chance. It was worth it even though I wasn't able to keep breakfast in me."

"Mr. Liericke did great," said Major Hancock. "He performed a loop and a barrel roll during the flight. We even flew over Boise State University and he got to see the blue turf."

Mrs. Riggs flew later the same day with Maj. Chris "Shaft" Ederle, 389th Fighter Squadron, and she had the same reaction as her fellow honorary commanders including recycling her lunch into a complimentary bag.

"The flight was incredible!" she said. "We flew over Oregon, down through Nevada then up through the training range. He took good care of me. One time is enough though. It was different from what I expected and it was so surreal being up above clouds. When we pulled G's it felt like we were flying without a plane. When we hit super sonic speeds, I just couldn't keep my cookies any longer."

Mr. Orr was unable to receive his flight that day and will receive his flight over the coming weeks.

Once the honorary commanders landed and did their best to compose themselves, they were met by their families and friends before being escorted back to the fighter squadrons where they each received a unit coin, photograph collage of their entire experience and certificate to help them remember the ride of a lifetime.