Real Fighter Pilot on Flying an F-16 Across the Ocean 

Thanks for giving us the pilots perspective on overseas deployments and I appreciate the shoutout to the maintainers. As a former maintainer that was involved in numerous across the pond deployments I can tell you that it takes a lot of time and effort to prepare F-16's for those long overwater flights. I and my fellow crew dogs would anxiously await the news the next day of how the jets landed at their overseas destination. It always gave us a sense of pride and accomplishment to hear they all landed safely

"You guys want a vacation in rome?" "Hell yeah we do." "Alright. Tear that windshield wiper off."

Hasard, I’m a former F-16, KC-135, and C130 Crewchief. I watch these videos and reminisce of days gone by. I caught the shout out you gave the maintainers. From a fellow Airmen and maintainer 👍 ‘salute’ 🇺🇸

Wow. 400 knots. 11 hours Doha to Spain. Refuel about once an hour. Manual flight across the Atlantic. That just sounds crazy Thanks for the video. I had always presumed you guys would cross in ridiculously fast times and didn't have to refuel as much. Flying economy in an airliner doesn't sound as bad now!

Didn't know about the carrypods before...that's cool...and so is sight seeing with targeting pods...great vid.

Retired B52G gunner, KC135A and KC10A boom operator. I've done a few trips pulling you guys across the ponds, and I'll say you F16 guys were by far my favorite...always down to earth and friendly folks. BTW, the KC10 slows down to refuel you guys. Also...was always fun to see the KC135A with water injection walk away from you guys after takeoff...for 120 seconds we were rocking. LOL NKAWTG...Nobody! I've got some great stories I'll have to write down one of these days. :)

Mad props to my air force crews for knowing when stuff needs to break 🙏🏻🇺🇸✌🏻

I’ve done pond crossings in RF-4s, EF-111s, EA-6Bs, and F-15Es. Always something happens along the way. Flew a non stop from Dahran to the Azores then the Azores to Cannon.

“Looking at you tanker guys” As a tanker guy I felt that.

I think a lot of people take pilots for granted, it's a bloody serious job, and massive talent and skill.

Thank you for giving your maintainers some love.

You have so many incredible stories and memories from being a pilot. Amazing. Thank you for your service 🇺🇸

Hassard great video. As a retired KC135 pilot, the F16s were the best in the CAF for overwater deployments. We never had any issues with your 2-4-6 ships. I’ve dragged a lot of aircraft across the Atlantic and Pacific and your guys were uniformly the best. Nice work.

Thank you for your service. God Bless you, your family, all you served with and God Bless America. 🇺🇸

I love hearing the details of these "simple" missions. Thank you!

What a fascinating account! Thank you for the detailed upload. Truly an interesting watch. I had no idea your refuelling schedule was so intense nor that you were manually flying so much. My hats off to you for your service and quite literally your bravery doing this day after day !!!

Holly crap don't tell the bad guys about the windshield wiper weakness.

Flew back to MCAS Kaneohe Bay in an Air Force C-5 when the first Gulf War ended. We made a stop at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. We were only supposed to stay there about 12 hours but ended up staying there almost a week because the plane crew downed it due to needing a new tire lol. Thank you plane crew. God Bless you. Clark was a great place for a bunch of Marines to hang out for a few days. I also remember seeing the plane crew unloading their golf bags, and I was told that Clark had a beautiful golf course.

Geezus, refuelling 10 times in the 16 would be a nightmare, its crazy hard in DCS !!

I’m surprised Amazon couldn’t overnight the windshield wiper, they have everything else.

Wow! All the logistics involved in just bringing back the jets. Amazing work, guys! Thanks for serving and protecting our country and freedom.

Shaw AFB! I got my initial training in Conway, SC, which is next door. I used to fly into your restricted area to get intercepted. It was _awesome_ to see you guys up close. I guess ATC knew that, because we never got into trouble for that. In those times, the (iirc) 357th (A-10s) was at Myrtle Beach, and their controllers used to call us the Conway Bombers (there was a flight school in 51J, so lots of activity). Our instructors were ex B-52 pilots with _lots_ of amazing stories. One thing I can't remember was the "cigar rule". It had something to do with VORs, holding your cigar up to the dial, and moving it to another dial. This was from the time when flying involved a leather jacker, shawl and cigar. My Google Fu is lacking. :(

Good ole Shaw.. was stationed there in the late ‘80’s. 363rd TFW was there. I really enjoyed that base and Sumter was a nice little town. Great memories. Thank you for your service!

I’m an old … really old AF brat, wanted to sat thank you for your service. My dad was a 1st generation KC-135 AC, the 135 was is favorite air craft to fly.

Hazard, got to say, it’s a sad state of affairs when you have to wait for a wiper blade and that there isn’t another tanker available to take its place. Crazy times we are living in. Thanks for your Service Sir!

In the Navy we called them Blivets. On our A-4s they went centerline and inboard station on each wing was a 300 gallon drop tank. With the 2 drop tanks it held 8000 pounds of fuel. Autopilot? What's that? This was in the 70s and 80s. The blivets were the same size as a 300 gallon droptank. Back then it was illeagal to have Coors on the east coast so those blivets carried a lot of beer from the west coast, a lot of beer. Occasionally other spirits but usually they carried golf clubs and luggage. Thankfully you all made it across the pond safe and sound. I have been thinking about a speed restriction with the blivet on. Don't go supersonic in a dive is what I remember but it was a long time ago. Be safe.

Apparently 20 years in Afghanistan was due to waiting TWO WEEKS for a windshield wiper...

Hazard. Have you ever looked at the internal fuel and performance on the F-16XL and wondered if that would have been better for later Block Vipers for the roles they’re mainly used for? The XL basically doubled the combat radius and would have cut the need for AR significantly. Payload was insane. BVR metrics were superior. T/W was less though with the early 1980s motors.

New subscriber here. Really appreciate these videos. I've been an aerospace buff all my life and have wondered about many of the questions you answer in your videos - like what it feels like to go super, firing the gun, crossing the ocean, etc. It's great to finally get answers, and in a well-presented way. Thank you!

Thanks for the shout out to the maintainers. My brother is a retired F-15 engine mech.

It's a lot easier to ride an aircraft carrier across the pond, with your jet parked on the deck above you.

Flew tanker drags over both ponds in the Prowler (EA-6B) in the early 00s. Amazing how the tanker always seems to break in the nicest of spots--Azores for the translant and Hawaii/Guam for the transpac. 😅

If you could “break” in Rota, wouldn’t you? I was a maintainer and got to make that trip looking down from the boom pod. It’s amazing how beautiful the world is from that vantage point.

It's easy to underestimate logistics. We used to tear down our CH46E and stuff 3 of them into a C5 for long transport. Then rebuild them upon landing. So much fun. 😒

Nice to hear that Spain is still the place to be. We, as part of the ESTA team, did the tour in 98, Operation Southern Watch. We stopped at Moron on the way over. The deployment was...boring... On the way back we had some issues. Somebody forgot to purge the 370's and they ended up blowing vapourized fuel all over the interior of the C-141 when we were at altitude. The loadmaster freaked and ran to the flight deck. The next thing we knew we were doing a nose dive. Cabin air was dumped and it got cold reeeeeal quick. IFE into Rota, loadmasters had to work all night lifting the floor boards to clean all of the fuel. We got to have our first beer after 3 months in Rota. We then carried on to Lajes in the Azores and "unfortunately" the tanker broke as well as one of our 16's. A week in the Azores was a nice change of pace and would recommend anyone to go if they have a chance. I know, it was a different experience for the later guys but still, it was an experience.

When my brother was deployed back to UK from Cyprus, they stuffed all the contraband into bomb casings marked up live munitions. The Customs wouldn't go within a mile of those and certainly wouldn't interfere with.The plan B was if they really wanted to look inside everyone would clear the area leaving them to look themselves.

10 refuels in a flight and you didn't shoot the tanker down... I wish I was that restrained on DCS 🤣

Sick video Hasard! Love the content ❤️

Cool video. I appreciate the experience and maturity of Hasard and his fellow pilots obvious from listening to him speak. I'm glad there are guys like him. All the best, Rob

Thank you for your service! Enjoyed the info you shared with us.

135s always magically breaks down at the most inconvenient places.

Thank you for your service.

Gotta love good old Shaw and the 79th. Been stuck here a minute.

This is my dream!

Thank you for your service, and commitment. I really enjoy the detailed breakdown of your flights. God bless, and take care.

The F-16 doesn't have a proper autopilot like a commercial jet, but there is a rudimentary one, yes? It's down by your left knee and will hold altitude/attitude and will follow a heading bug or steer point. It's still manual flying in the sense that you have to hand fly the autopilot so to speak. This is just my experience in DCS World "flying" the F-16C. Usually they model the jets pretty accurately and faithfully. But that's just a computer sim. Knowing there's a damn near zero chance of rescue in a sea state 7-8 is just a ballsy call to make. Mad respect

Shaw Air Force Base is in my hometown. I loved seeing F-16s fly over every now and then.

No love for Gucci man…it’s ok, we’re just the “Other tanker”! Great story, Redeployment Coronets are my favorites and most rewarding to do. Spain is a good sight after months of seeing Tan.

Thank you for your service

Great Hasard. Loved the video.

What a great piece. Thank you

I remember those fighter drags well. Retire KC-135A and KC-10A Boomer. Miss the flying and hanging with the fellas! GREAT video!

Oh I really liked this one. The most fun story of most of your videos so far. Thanks‼️

Thank you. Always wondered how one-bangers got over there and back. Video is a perfect length too. Nicely done. Very engaging.

I MISS THESE VIDEOS ! ITS BEEN 4 MONTHS !!!!!

My son is quite like you. He's leaving Al Udeid today after working at the ops center for the last 6 months.

Great video, answered many questions I’m sure. New subscriber, heard you on the Fighter Pilot Podcast. Thanks!

Amazing story, amazing lifestyle. I always wanted that when I was a kid. Actually, I still do.

Thanks Hazard I leave for boom training in November

In your opinion is it hard to refuel in a f-16 since you cant really see it because you connect the tube behind you?

6:10 Does “3 foot wing tip clearance” mean wings of planes are 3 feet apart from each other? For TWO hours?! Must be exhausting.

Thank you. that was fantastic!!

Thank you for your service!

Great video, I was a maintainer at McEntire Joint Air National Guard Station for 24 years but did an AGR tour at Shaw for 4.5 years in the 20th Security Forces as Bravo 1 ream leader

A-Kinda suitcase do u use? HL-Converted Napalm Pods straped to an F-16! A-0w0 HL-They are kinda limiting u know A-?! Also fixing windshield wipers of KC-135Rs takes about 2 weeks give or take(if you are in a beautiful mediterranean country.)

Thanks for sharing! Your channel has been very informative. I’m applying to AFROTC for next fall in hopes of earning a pilot slot and these videos definitely motivate me to want to do well. Keep em comin!

Seeing the steam shoot up from the wet runway was awesome!

love these looks into the world of fighter pilots! fascinating

Wow! That was amazing to hear! Thank you for your service! 😀

Did anyone else lose sound around 3:15?

Thanks for covering this. It's a subject I've ways been curious about but hard to find any info on because most people don't find it interesting since it's not combat related.

Thank you for this! This was something I had been wondering about!

Windshield wiper bit killed me 😂

You ended your return in my home State. As a kid, I would ask my parents to take US Hwy 378 to Myrtle Beach so that we can pass Shaw and possibly see the jets takeoff. I grew up with the F-16s from Shaw and McEntire flying overhead.

Thank you for your service sir

thnx men great content u have over here brother.keep up the great work

Thank you for this video! So informative and enjoyable. Please make more.m

Thanks for calling out the maintainers.

Heavy guys never break in bad locations...always in paradise

Wow! I love the visuals!!! Always wanted to be a fighter pilot 😢 Keep up the amazing videos!! 🎉❤❤

Yeah I believe two weeks. I used to change those motors, they're a pain in the ass and they were low on stock even 10 years ago.

half of the video sound is muted? after 3:20 i cant hear anything

sound drops at 3:14

Tanker guys definitely just wanted to stay in Rota Spain

Jesus that trip over the Atlantic sounds EXHAUSTING!

Great info, thank you. I had no idea it was so laborious. How would the trip had been in an F-35 as a more modern single engine fighter?

I really like your videos, you are a really great story teller! Idk what it is about fighter pilots and astronauts, but the ones you hear speaking and telling their stories like this have really impressive communication skills, which I'm sure is a requirement of the job. (There could be a little confirmation bias to that lol)

Bro this sounds EXACTLY like my KC-10 mission back in 2010-2011. I remember flying over the Nile river at one point, and the F-16 pilot told me he was looking at the pyramids with his pods.

It's great to hear such details of these sort of logistic operations. Thanks for sharing ^^

Fun fact. AMC jets always breaks in Hawaii, Spain, Germany, and Italy. Never seen one break in Minot.

Very interesting stuff on this channel! So for your ride across the ocean your travel pod really didn't slow you down, the speed limiting factor was the tanker. Right?

I may be dumb, but why do the travel pods limit you? They limit the speed?

Thank you for your service.👍👍♥️

Is the video frozen for anyone else like a third of the way in?

Fire Protection here, lemme get a patch sir! love you guys thank you for keeping us safe so we can keep you safe

is it just me or is this video bugged, from 3:14 to the End there is no Sound for me :(

-135 Boom from 1995 to 2001. Plenty of fighter drags through the years. Lots of fun. I don’t remember wipers being on the go/no-go checklist. I remember them being fairly worthless, except maybe on the ground? (Booms spend most of the time in the cockpit). I will tell you though, we lost a generator on number three while at Hickam AFB on the way back from Kadena one year. That was a rough week in Hawaii.

Rota is a fun place. I spent some time there in the early 1970s.

I was at McConnell in 1980 KCs and missles

Spent 5 days at Al Udeid. Never made it to Doha though. I was too tired to do the tourist thing, so I slept a lot and hung out at the pool.