Interview with Vincent Aiello on the USN F/A-18 Hornet 

It was my pleasure, I thoroughly enjoyed it! I’m sure we can arrange that.

Excellent first hand info, many thanks for your time, both of you !

Ben SMITH you’re very welcome.

Fighter Pilot Podcast Thoroughly enjoyed it ! Would love to hear a part 2 👍

I'm sure we will get Vincent back on the show again :)

Brilliant! His podcasts are awesome I must say.

He is an all round nice guy with a great Navy career.

He is a very down to earth chap.

Aircrew Interview ...he’s pretty humble

...hey, don't forget I'm listening here, folks. I made it this far, don't let me get a big head now! But thanks for the compliments.

Lille Trille ...Really? They're humans that just have training. Its like police officers, they're normal humans that have the training to do what they need to do if needed.

No Name Nomad Calm down, It was humor.

a healthy ego doesn‘t need to be presented all the time :D there are unhealthy egos in certain movies though

Thanks very much!

The Lexington was actually an Essex class straight-decked carrier when it first was commissioned in WW2, after that, sometime in the 50s it got an upgrade with the angled deck and the (closed) hurricane bow and steam catapults, I believe the modification was called SCB-125.

@@Nghilifa The enclosed hurricane bow was a good thing. Some of these ships -- the Midway Class especiallly -- had a tendency to plow their bow underwater in heavy seas! I've seen video of this happening. It was provided by a gentleman who used to work for Hughes aircraft electronics/radar. He was involved with both the F-14 and F-18 programs in the development and upgrades of the AWG-9/APG-71 and APG-65/-73 radar systems. The video I saw was of the CV-43 Coral Seas in heavy seas off California's coast. That carrier had awful handling in heavy seas! The USS Midway/CV-41 was even worse from what I've read. The modification programs the Navy carried out for the formerly straight deck carriers elevated the gross weight 10,000-20,000 lbs above the original design specifications -- that was for both the Essex and Midway Class carriers. That stressed the hulls and in the case of the USS Midway they were very concerned about the hull breaking at points since the ship was very stressed. It was probably in service at least 15-20 years past what they felt was safe for it. I think the Midway was retired more for concerns about hull fracturing than it was the viability of operating the powerplant past 40 years. If you discount the years it was in refit and repair, the US Navy got around 38-40 years of practical service from it. The modification programs took around 6 years total to implement and then enlarge the revamped flight deck. Those programs were among the most expensive restructuring programs of existing ships the Navy ever implemented and the second angled deck modification was never carried out on the Midway's sister ships. These carriers (built during the World War II era and into the 1960s) were not originally designed for use beyond 20-25 years. The Nimitz class has been the most successful carrier design devised to date but it built on what they learned from the previous carrier types. They still made some mistakes or learned to live with certain design flaws in the Nimitz class but whatever shortcomings they have are not as bad as what the earlier ships dealt with is my understanding.

Inspiring story! Fly safe!

@@Nghilifa Thanks, may your skies be always blue, unless you need instrument practice.

Thank you.

Brilliant!

Sign me up!

That's why I began The Fighter Pilot Podcast, Michael--because I knew there were a lot of people out there with that sentiment. I consider myself extremely fortunate.

Someday ill have a comp that'll run DCS smoothly

Glad you enjoyed it

That was my very first squadron out of training. You never forget your first!

What's your favorite squadron art, and what did you notice about the different squadron cultures relative to the colors, insignia, etc.? I remember studying all the different squadrons when I was a kid, especially for the Tomcat, A-6, and A-7 squadrons, from really strange and dark units to more sociable themes (examples: Devil's Disciples and Clansmen, vs Jolly Rogers and Flying Aces). The squadron cultures really interest me more than anything else that we can talk about.

My favorite squadron art was whichever one I was in at the time! But now that I'm out, honestly, I don't have a favorite--they were all great. Squadron cultures come and go, depending who is in the front office.

A buddy of mine who was a career F-16C/D pilot did exchange on a carrier with a Hornet squadron. He said the Tomcat guys wouldn't even talk to the Hornet drivers, were very elitist, condescending, and there was a lot of that type of animosity between them, similar to F-15C mafia vs Vipers in the USAF. His first pick was F-15, but he says he's glad he got the F-16 instead.

In my experience, most guys were friendly and happy, go-lucky no matter what they flew. But there were always a few exceptions.

I read this a few weeks ago and it was brilliant. A very confident man let’s say that!

It is indeed. Hope your enjoyed the interview.

That totally sucked! Even though they showed that clip while talking about day landings, in fact I had just landed at night in that crap! I walk into the ready room just glad to be alive and, bam, a camera in my face. Swell.

Watched the series. Which episode/carrier was that on?

The pitching deck episode... 6 or 7 maybe? Not completely sure. We were on the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) on that deployment.

Ah, the Smithsonian Channel is only showing episodes 1-4 at present.

Thanks mark, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I am guessing you’re referring to Vincent to get Buzz on, as he would he certainly had more chance than me!

Both of you actually, why not drop him a line:-)

Mark Burgess you never know I suppose, it’s worth a shot at least!

Hear, hear.

Indeed you may have! (Although in 2011 I was actually based on Pt Loma across the bay--but you never know...)

Cheers Richard. Happy to hear you enjoyed it.

Concur with Mike, thanks Richard! If you haven't already found the podcast at fighterpilotpodcast.com/ come on over and check us out!

Cheers Vincent! Really enjoying your content. Some great information and and fantastic insight, especially to aspiring aviators like myself...

Excellent. Best wishes--I hope you make it!

Thanks James, I shall take that on board. Hope you enjoyed the interview.

You can at fighterpilotpodcast.com/, James.

Cheers :)

Che is right, Mike: you certainly are!

And in regards to Che's genuine, that would be indeed the only possible reply.. + Thx, for that mesmerizing hour...

Thanks again:)

That is a major reason why I decided to stick my neck out and begin my podcast--gotta set the record straight!

@@FighterPilotPodcastI had three visits to NFWS at Miramar (92, 94, 96) following a fundraising event due to my battle with Cancer then to NAWDC in 2016. I’d researched and followed the story of Topgun, which officially is one word as you know, after the movie was released. The more I found out about the school and the subsequent visits, the more I wish the movie had never been created. The only benefit in my eyes was that it was and possibly still is, a great recruiting tool. Brad Elward and Dan Pedersen’s books really highlight the purpose of the school. Thank you for your service and telling the story of the true Topgun.

What he's referring to is returning aircraft cannot land fully loaded so they jettison fuel and/or ordance to get weight down. That's why he said they didn't fly too heavy so they didn't have to drop anything in the ocean.

Cheers Simon. Much appreciated

Thanks Jim.

Cheers David.

I don’t believe so.

He should. It's a late lot F/A-18C. His favorite model. It's lot 20. The last batch of F/A-18C delivered in 1998 and retrofitted in mid 2000's.

He plays. Look it up. He had Matt Wagner in an episode. Matt taught him the basics. lol

Thanks Juha.

Thanks.

Cheers :)

You’re welcome.

Oh, don't be an ass.