It’s called “Speed & Angels” – three words guaranteed to quicken the pulse of anyone who’s ever flown fighters, since the words that follow after are “fight’s on!”
Speed and Angels is the true life story and feature-length action documentary about two navy officers chasing their dreams to become fighter pilots. The film follows them during the most dangerous parts of their training and as they go to war, where the realities of being a fighter pilot test their limits.
The film includes epic aerial footage in stunning HD‚Äîincluding the last ever F-14 Tomcat dogfights‚Äîand rare naval archival and wartime footage. Thanks to unprecedented access granted by the navy, Speed and Angels gives an inside look at people’s journeys as fighter pilots as it has never before been seen.
The tag-line for the movie is, “Behind every fighter pilot is a dream.”
And, since the movie is about F-14 pilots, it’s probably safe to add, “And behind that dream is a Hornet pilot, closing to guns on the both of ‘em.”
Which, yes thank you, I absolutely do crack myself up.
Always interested in leadership lessons disguised as flying stories. Even if its about [spit] cats. These tomcats at least earned their keep.
Lex,
Quote:
?
Lex,
Quote:
“And behind that dream is a Hornet pilot, closing to guns on the both of ‘em.”
You left off the part about the hummer crew giving him directions to the playground…
Respects,
AW1 Tim
Looks great!
I watched the dogfight clip – what does “overbank” mean?
Veddy veddy cool!
Woo Hoo – real plane pron to start my day AND a movie to come. Can’t wait!!!
Looking forward to this one. Too bad the only Hornet movie out there is “Behind Enemy Lines.” Starring that “great” actor Owen Wilson (maybe the sequel to it was Wedding Crashers)?
Semper Primus
I just made my reservation for the 8 November show here in DC. Can’t wait. Any other Lexfans in the area going?
Oh my Lord! Now Buckethead’s going to fancy himself a movie star?
Does anyone think the actual video of the Hultgreen accident is in bad taste?
Dave
I didn’t see that part Dave, and yes I would find it in bad taste. Whatever else people might have said about Kara, she was a good kid and didn’t deserve what happened to her, either before the mishap during it or after, when her death was turned into a political football.
I agree with Lex. Using Hultgreen’s accident video is rather morbid. And it was quite the political football, used by all sides in a pretty ugly way. And there was a RIO in the jet who I don’t belive made it out alive either.
Brian
Brian
The RIO made it out and was rescued.
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/hultgrn.htm
Scroll down to the “From a contemporary press report” section:
“Radar intercept officer Lieutenant Matthew Klemish ejected safely from the plane and was rescued from the water minutes later.”
Also, I met the folks behind this movie at the Tomcat Sunset events. It is an “indie” film and they are looking for enough support to convince a distributor to get it into the theaters.
Lex,
Just don’t crack yourself up on the roundown.
Smack myself (think first, Rick). That last comment may not have been appropriate after the info about Lt. Hultgreen.
Humble apologies.
Anybody going to this?
“11.08.2006 7:00 pm San Diego, CA [ map ] [ RSVP YES ]
AMC Mission Valley 20
1640 Camino Del Rio, North
San Diego, CA 92108
Doors open at 7:00 p.m.
Film starts at 7:30 p.m.
Speed and Angels producer, Francesco Chierici, will be there for a brief Q & A following the film. This screening is free and intended for early friends and fans of the film. Space is available on a first come first serve basis.”
From the S&A film website – “Events”
Also, don’t forget, after the Hummer gave you directions, you had to get gas from another Hornet to get there…and get back
(running back to the bunker, screaming, “INCOMING!)
Heh…..
The Hultgreen accident is about 2/3 the way through the trailer. Cat shots and traps followed by the black and white tower shot of the accident. It then says ” If they succeed”.
Poor taste.
Dave
BTW, interesting that the illustrated turkey guns kill was computer animated — surely there are one or two real ones, Lex (given all the trash talkin’)
I just looked at the trailer. It doesn’t say that is was the Hultgreen incident. It shows a Tomcat going in. And the “if they succeed” is pretty much the long and the short of it. What separates us mere mortals and the Naval Aviators is the ability to put a very expensive piece of equipment, and the human occupants who are either along for the ride or are in control down onto that little tiny deck in a safe and normal matter. Yeah…”succeed”…in the hardest aviation profession in the world, a safe landing is indeed, “success”. I know I got the point…I can’t speak for anyone else.
Actually Dave,
It says “If they succeed…”
and then a few seconds later it says
“…they will be called fighter pilots.”
The timing (putting it right after the mishap footage) is a bit suspect, but I don’t think the succeed quote was even meant to be attached to the preceeding shot.
If that had been a mishap from before “our time” of someone we didn’t know (or know of) I don’t think any of us would have cared. Sucked when Kara died (or was killed by Pat Schroeder and spineless Navy “Leaders”) but it sucked when each of the people we knew in the Nav died. But it does show that the job ain’t all glamour and good times, and it shows it in a way that hits home. Kara was a great stick and bad stuff happens even to the best sometimes.
N
Trey! A voice from the past (and the last man to gun me)
You know me, Trey – I played by the rules. No holding on to private stores of classified HUD video.
There are times I regret my rectitude.
I haven’t seen the trailer so I am not actually speaking with first-hand knowledge. Given the description above it still strikes me as a little creepy to be using fatal mishap video in an ad for a movie. Indie or no, that’s pushing it in the good taste department. There’s plenty of clips out there that would easily get the point across. Hell, any night recovery video should do the trick…
Aside from that issue, I can’t wait to see the film.
C’mon Lex, you sure you can’t cough up just one HUD shot to back up all that talk???
Daveg says: “I watched the dogfight clip – what does ‘overbank’ mean?”
“Overbank”: a memorable event – not exactly the high spot of a civilian pilot’s day.
Excerpt from:
AIRPLANE UPSET RECOVERY TRAINING AID ?
Daveg says: “I watched the dogfight clip – what does ‘overbank’ mean?”
“Overbank”: a memorable event – not exactly the high spot of a civilian pilot’s day.
Excerpt from:
AIRPLANE UPSET RECOVERY TRAINING AID – REVISION 1 (URTA)
SECTION 2 PAGE: 2-42
2.6.3.4 High-Bank-Angle Recovery Techniques
“A nose-low, high-angle-of-bank attitude requires prompt action, because altitude is rapidly being exchanged for airspeed. Even if the airplane is at an altitude where ground impact is not an immediate concern, airspeed can rapidly increase beyond airplane design limits. Recognize and confirm the situation. Disengage the autopilot and auto-throttle. Simultaneous application of roll and adjustment of thrust may be necessary.
“It may be necessary to unload the airplane by decreasing backpressure to improve roll effectiveness. If the airplane has exceeded 90 deg of bank, it may feel like “pushing ” in order to unload. It is necessary to unload to improve roll control and to prevent pointing the lift vector towards the ground.”
Perhaps Naval Aviators use overbank purposefully to gain advantage in aerial combat – or for fun. I don’t know but I’d like to.
Thanks Tom. It’s similar, then, to what can happen in my RV-6 if I let it get away from me on the downside of a loop or hammerhead. Clean airplane = lots of speed = possible overspeed. You can’t just yank it out because you can really shorten your wings that way, and that has a way of ruining the rest of your day.
“Overbank” in navmilspeak depends greatly on context. If you’re flying an instrument approach in the goo or at night (or in the goo at night), then a 45 degree AOB turn would be considered an overbank (greater than a standard rate turn and in excess of 30 deg AOB) and a bad thing. With an instructor in the ride you might get severe negative strokes.
In a tactical environment at altitude, you might roll up on a wing past 90 degrees for a belly-check, and that would be an overbank (and a good thing).
At low altitude, raging over the top of a mountain ridge, you’d *have* to overbank (~135 degrees AOB) once across the peaks to keep from highlighting yourself to radars and AAA, and that would be a necessary thing.
In the final two cases are found the broadest definition of the term – a bank angle in excess of 90 degrees, while in the very last case it’s shorthand for “rolling nearly inverted.”
So, kind of imprecise…
Daveg, interesting site FYI
http://www.apstraining.com/default.htm
Now I gotta go drop a dime in Lex’s kitty as a small token of appreciation of his “rectitude” and forbearance in tolerating my slightly off-topic burning of his bandwidth on this and several other posts. Oh yeah, and for “Rhythms”, too.
Just read your explanation of overbank in the military context. Makes ultimate sense to me and very happy I never had to practice doing that stuff what with me being a doc-in-a-plane and all that.
Well thanks for your contribution to the cause, Doc! And never you fret about those V35B stories. Anyone who has the url to a site teaching unusual attitude recoveries will probably be OK.
The problem (from an actuarial standpoint) was never that driven, highly educated men accustomed to the exercise of intellectual power couldn’t be trained – the problem was that so many of them wouldn’t be.
In another typical erudite observation, Lex sez:
“The problem (from an actuarial standpoint) was never that driven, highly educated men accustomed to the exercise of intellectual power couldn?
In another typical erudite observation, Lex sez:
“The problem (from an actuarial standpoint) was never that driven, highly educated men accustomed to the exercise of intellectual power couldn’t be trained – the problem was that so many of them wouldn’t be.”
That (actuarial) notion was mentioned and summarily rammed into our brains on Day One: “Orientation” of Med School. I knew something was up when the Dean started with, “You will be expected to wear a coat and tie every day you are in this institution. If you don’t find this appealing, leave now. Nobody twisted your arm to come here.”
And then. Before taking to the skies, I read a quotation from Derek Bell (or some other Porsche factory driver) in which he stated, “The 944 will make a hero out of an average driver, the 930 will humble the best.” I chose to adopt the 930 observation as it might be applied to aviation.
As for Beechcrafts, I never did fancy the V35B. There was just something, well, weird-looking about the empennage. I do , however, like the A36. In either case, 35 or 36, “one little known fact about this plane is that the military T-34 trainer shares virtually the same hull, which explains why the Bonanza’s gear is so over-engineered.” (ref. on request.)
I’ll remind Lex and Trey (nifty monikers kids) that in 1981 a single Tom shot down 2 Migs in the Gulf o’Sidra. In the days before 8mm tape.
The RO is still on AD as a 3-star. Call him and ask him.
All that being said I wish it had been about the Hornet for recruiting’s sake…but of course like a lot o’good things from the facile, aggresive minds of turkey drivers came the idea. They beat you again gents! LOL.
B2
PS- Where is that BillC? I want to tell him, yes, I’m being a you know what. HA.
Lex,
While attending the grueling 4 week course in aviation safety/handicap management/west coast microbrew studies at NPGS Monterey, CA (which was, by the way, six weeks long) we spent some time discussing overbank.
From a safety perspective, your belly check and ridgeline crossing wouldn’t really be considered overbanks, because you meant to do that (or at least as a single seat guy, you can come back and tell people you meant to do that!).
Ever see the video of the AV8B roll into the water on a flyby beside the amphib? Or read the mishap about the young F-18 pilot who bounced his jet off of the desert floor and survived? Both were overbank incidents.
It’s basically a loss of situational awareness where the lift vector points below the horizon whilst the pilot thinks it is pointing above the horizon. Pilot puts on a big pull – as we all know from you excellent description of g required to maintain altitude from an earlier post – and instead of maintaining altitude, he looses it. Rapidly.
Glad I finally put all my hard work from 10 years ago to use.
Nose
PS Bob, you were being a “perfect” you know what.
Lex,
Your rectitude is real — and I can’t deny that your archives undoubtedly have a few very illuminating pipper overlays of the Tomcat (as well as a few Hornets, Eagles, etc.). As far as who gunned who, we’ll leave that to history (and the happy fact that an A-4 has no gun video).
For that matter, it seems to me that it’s likely that the A-4 would have the most gun footage of all time on the F-14 and F/A-18 alike — if it only had a camera.
Old times.
Shipmates,
Quote:
“For that matter, it seems to me that it?
Shipmates,
Quote:
“For that matter, it seems to me that it’s likely that the A-4 would have the most gun footage of all time on the F-14 and F/A-18 alike — if it only had a camera.”
Didn’t need a camera, because God knows what went on, and HE will be conducting the ultimate post flight later on….. I can’t wait to sit in on THAT debriefing…:)
Respects,
AW1 Tim
Hello,
Bit of a late reply, but the “Hultgreen” footage is not Kara Hultgreen’s crash. Her fated ejection took place behind the boat, the tomcat never made it to the deck. The real Hultgreen footage can be found either on youtube or patrick’s aviation. I won;t comment on whether or not the usee of real accident footage (famous or not) is in good taste.
Best,
Nick