Fox One

The next couple days were filled with boredom. I spent some time with the simulator, but the prospect of not being able to fly for real again was discouraging. Vixen and Shizuka were too busy to join me. On Friday, I awoke to the sound of fighter jets tearing through the sky above the runway […]

“Okay,” Jackal began. “I need everybody on the ball. Vixen, you on?” A short pause later, Vixen replied, “I’m here.” “Get me bogey dope on the Tucanos.” “Stand by.” She paused for what seemed far too long to my racing mind. “One-eight-five for fifty, at five-thousand.” Jackal repeated. “Bearing one-eight-five, fifty miles out, circling at

The rest of the week was grueling. Breakfast, then up in the MiG to dogfight, then land and debrief. Day after day. My thighs were sore from tensing my legs to counter the g-forces. Besides defeating Jackal once, I still felt like a novice. I’d come close to hitting the hard deck three times. Stalled

As we approached the door to a room inside the terminal building, Jackal winked at me and held a finger to his lips. He slowly turned the handle and opened the door. I could see him give the same signal to someone inside as I crept through the open door behind him. Inside was a

I could see a lake at the head of the river as Jackal came in on the radio. “Let’s get started. The hard deck is five thousand feet. Make sure you stay above it. Break off right, circle around that grain silo and come directly toward the lake.” Jackal and I separated. As he banked

I stepped out of the shower just in time to hear a knock on the door of my trailer. I peeked out the window to see Jackal walking away, toward the hangar. After quickly getting dressed and zipping up my flight suit, I opened the door to see a paper bag sitting on the ground

I walked toward the jets, transfixed. Being so close to real fighters that I would actually get to fly hypnotized me. I reached out and placed my hand up against one of the engine intakes. It felt both new and old at the same time, as if someone had meticulously built an airplane that looked

I rose to my feet at the top of the spectator stands as the jets began a low pass over the runway. The deafening scream of their engines tore through the air as they flew by, drowning out the cheering crowd. The lead jet of the three peeled off vertically, doubling back toward the runway