Or at least not in combat... meet B-29 demo crew Dora Dougherty and Didi Moorman... http://cotteyphile.com/dora/
Went to the Diamondback's home opener last night. There was a flyover of fighter jets at the end of the National Anthem...The airbase is only 15 minutes away so they come to the stadium after they land. The announcer introduced each of them and said the female in the picture is the "lead pilot and commander of the squadron" (She had her daughter with her). I "think" this is her: "Lt. Col. Trena Savageau, call sign “Hak,” has become the sole female fighter pilot stationed at Luke. " http://www.944fw.afrc.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1350985/69th-fighter-squadron-welcomes-its-first-female-commander/ Cool article here on Female Fighter Pilots: http://www.phoenixmag.com/people/fly-girls.html Was a very cool flyover and moment... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
As my pilot it a female, we love Poncho Barnes! What a hoot, by all means you should buy the DVD, and have your very own "Happy Bottom Riding Club" party. What could be more fun? http://panchobarnes.com By the way, little lady flew me to the Palm Beach Boat Show last week. You should have seen her handling the 31 knot gust on the runway in her Lear C172 N372SA
Don- The WASPs flew fighters in WW-II, as well as bombers. They just were never operational in either. Flying them was fine, getting shot at was not. First female fighter pilot I saw was flying CF-18s in Germany. Cute little blonde lieutenant. Guys said she flew very well. Must have been one of the first, since they did not graduate the first two female CF-18 pilots until 1989 and this was in 1989.
She is amazing! Have you seen the in-cockpit videos of her flying? Here is one (you need to skip forward a bit):
Have seen this before....one interesting bit is the "violence" of her stick movements....just never before thought about the power needed to initiate (and stop) the aircrafts movements..... (and she has the biceps to do it!) And she's nonchalantly chatting away the whole time..... Btw: is she flying a preplanned routine here....or just making video?
this what is in the video's information [QUOTE] © Artur Sarkisyan - Sochi Olimpic Sky 2015 From this camera was broadcast live on the show "OLYMPIC SKY" in Sochi on May 30-31, 2015. SVETLANA CAPANINA: * Absolute World Champion among women (1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2011) [9]. * Absolute champion of the World Air Games among women (1997, 2001). * Absolute champion of Russia among women (1991, 2001). * USSR champion in aerobatics (1991). * Absolute champion of Europe among women (1997, 2006, 2014). * Thirty-eight times champion of the world in certain types of programs among women (1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013). * Eight-time Champion of the World Air Games (1997, 2001). * Seventeen-time European Champion (1997, 2006, 2014).[/QUOTE] Here is Patty Wagstaff with her Extra-300 and you can see she is quite violent on the stick.
In the Patty Wagstaff video (she's amazing as well, by the way) you can't see the stick, so you really don't know how violent she is with it. It may also be a function of the stick forces in the airplane Ms. Kapanina is flying. Either way, she knows what she is doing...
I am no aerobatic pilot so I cannot talk from actually doing it. But from what I understand talking to a few Aerobatic pilots the control stick is quite light to move in flight even though there are only cables operating full span ailerons. Unlimited aerobatic aircraft currently roll at the 400-425 degree/second rate so I have feeling that the pilot is slamming the stick to get the aircraft to snap fast, not to muscle it around the sky. Flying an R/c Extra-300 I know I was able to do a slow roll at about 30 degrees/second with minimal aileron movement yet at full deflection it was easy to lose control since you had only your eyes to tell you what the plane is doing. These full on aerobatic pilots are strapped in so tight and in tune with what the plane is doing that they make it look like child's play because they feel what the plane is doing. Similar to a F1 driver is one with the car that the slightest vibration or wiggle out of the car gets there attention.
I like female pilots also..... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
My first checkride in the T-38 was in January 1988. My Check Pilot was Cindy Goes...absolutely fantastic instructor pilot and stunning blond, blue eyed lady. She was way better looking than any of the first batch of females that went on to fighters just a few years later. Her husband was a Viper driver at Luke while she was at Willie and I always got a kick out of seeing them up at Canyon Lake on the occasional weekend raging around in their hot ski boat "Goes n' Goes"...surely living the dream. Great people!
Ramming. It was striking to hear Heather Penny say that she would have rammed the tail of Flt 93 to take it down. I worked with a Polish pilot who was attached to the USAAF flying P-47's. I think that I have mentioned this before. He had a scar on his forehead and I asked him if it was from his war experiences. His answer was that it came from being hit by pieces of his canopy after he rammed a JU-88 to sever the tail. He had run out of ammo and decided to take the Ju-88 down by cutting the tail off. When I asked him if that wasn't a dangerous and final thing for him and he said, " Yes, but I would take four of them down for just one of me." Luckily , that didn't happen. The -88 went down but "The Jug" got him back home safely.
