Interview with Eric "Rick" Abell - Former Chief Engineer for the YF-22, YF-23, and F-22 Programs 

That was one of the best. There aren’t many guys with that kind of perspective on so many major programs. His ability to cut through the BS is extremely rare.

"Exploited some technology we found someplace". I can't imagine what it would be like to know the kinds of things this man knows. To be involved in that many bleeding edge projects must be incredible.

What an incredibly accomplished and distinguished guest. Great guest Mover!

As an engineer myself, this speaks to me hardcore. This is truly the life of an engineer, program managing and problem solving.

I can't like this enough. Could listen to his stories all day.

I worked for Rick on F-22 and he is truly one of the most brilliant engineers I have ever known. He and I have back-to-back hangars at I19 and I always enjoy spending time with him.

I am glad Rick was on our team. I hope and pray that there are many more like Rick in there with their heads down. I truly enjoy his perspective. It’s refreshing. No bs.

This is may be my favorite interview. I sat here with a goofy grin on my face for 2.5 hours. I wish Ben Rich and Kelly Johnson were still around to talk with Mover. Pilot interviews are great, but adding things like this is awsome.

"You can't fix that crap, heard a buzzing sound and the engine blew up, whatever you can get away with." I would love to be able to get Rick and Shoes together, throw some ribeyes on the grill and just listen to their stories. As I've said before, age like rank has it's privileges. Great interview Mover. Mondays are becoming my favorite day of the week.👍😉

Wow, that is a (3 decades) slice of US aircraft engineering history. Thank you for sharing this

Please bring Rick Abell back, and ask him about Boeing's KC-46 tanker fiasco. I'd love to hear his comments. And ask him about his two call signs.

Man what a great conversation to listen to. This guy is a treasure trove of information and interesting stories.

That was an absolute killer interview, Rick is the kind of guy that I’d buy drinks for all night just to listen to those stories. What a life he’s lead. Thumbs up Mover for that interview.

"I make killing machines, and they're both damn fine killing machines."

He has earned the right and has enough experience to walk into any Shop and say "WTF are you doing? Are you nuts??"

So glad to hear him praise General Fogelman, a truly great CSAF. I wrote him a letter of thanks when he resigned over the Khobar Towers tragedy, and he graciously replied with a personal letter back. I was just an ANG NCO.

Was a top end listen, Hope that can be done again

Two and a half hours of entertainment, loved the stories. awesome guy.

I worked at Northrop’s Century City headquarters in Los Angeles back in the early 2000s. That was years after the USAF picked the YF-22, but many of my colleagues at work had been there during the competition with Lockheed. What I heard was that Northrop was confident they had the better airplane. The YF-23 was faster and more stealthy compared to the YF-22. The main advantage of the YF-22 was that it was more maneuverable in a close-in dogfight, which my Northrop colleagues felt was less important in modern air combat. When the announcement was made that Lockheed’s YF-22 had won the competition, the reaction at Northrop was stunned disbelief. They attributed the loss to a bunch of aging fighter jocks at the USAF who wanted to preserve their air-fighting heritage no matter what they had to sacrifice.

WOW. Mover, I love your channel and love when you interview pilots, but this dude takes the cake. This is great. I can tell that this is the type of guy that you would love to sit down and just listen to for hours at a time. Keep up the good work.