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| I can fly a plane too! |
| 2004-05-04 |
| Kerry Tells of Flying a Jet Over Israel John Kerry wasn’t kidding when he told the Anti-Defamation League that he had a different perspective on Israel. Probably no one else in the room has seen the country upside down from an Israeli Air Force jet. Kerry said Monday that Tel Aviv kept denying his request to fly one of their planes, but that the colonel who was showing him around Israel during a 1991 visit not only got him into a trainer, but let him take the controls. (Probably now an ex-colonel.) "I take it off, we go up into the sky, climb up, head down toward Aqaba," the senator said. "And I wanted to look at Aqaba, so I’m coming down over Aqaba, and I suddenly hear this voice on the intercom, and he says, ’Senator, you’d better turn faster, you’re going over Egypt.’" (The man can do it all: fly, ride a bike, ski, chew gum.) Kerry said the colonel then gave him permission to do "a little aerobatics" and that he made a loop at about 12,000 feet. "To be able to come out upside down and look down and catch the horizon in back of me and see all the way down into the Sinai to the old base that had been given up, all the way across into Jordan, all the way out into the Gulf of Aqaba, and to see Israel beneath me, and the lines contained, and to see it all upside down was the perfect way to see the Middle East and Israel," he said. (Mike Dukakis can drive a tank too.) The "AWOL from the National Guard" charges aren’t getting any more traction with the voters. So if you can’t discredit President Bush on his service record, copy him. I’ll bet Mr. Kerry soon will admit he used to clear brush from the hillside of his wife’s villa too. |
| Posted by:G-Man in Chicago |
| #27 Could've been much worse. Kerry could have had a Vietnam flashback during his flight. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2004-05-04 10:52:18 PM |
| #26 "Clear the streets, the Senator is passing this way soon. . ." Sorry, BigEd. Up here we save that one for our other Senator. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-05-04 9:05:48 PM |
| #25 Well, Great Bear, Kerry was IN Vietnam for a short while. Not clear he FOUGHT there. Ditto for West Point re: military academy cadets getting a little flying experience. The main Israeli military airport is in Tel Aviv. If he was headed to Aqaba it means they took him across the Negev (nobody else to kill if they went down). Max 200 miles out to the actual water and 200 back from Tel Aviv, not all of that under his control of course. Less if they went towards the Egyptian border rather than the Gulf itself, maybe a total trip of 250-300 mi. The IAF flys a version of the F-16 and I think they use trainer versions of the F-16 for practice. That jet can hit 1500 mph (Mach 2), commonly cruises at 400-600 mph. Do the math and decide for yourself how long Kerry had the stick and how much they probably let him do .... |
| Posted by: Dem no more 2004-05-04 7:45:12 PM |
| #24 The story is plausible. If he was attending an ADL meeting, they would have bent over backwards for a Senator. Want to fly over Israel in a jet? Let's just gas one up and take her up. Oh here fly the plane for a while. Anything you want Senator we need friends in the Senate. What SH says is true for Air Force Cadets too. They take them up and let them "spread their wings and slip the bonds of earth." Unless the pilot was walking him through it I doubt the loopty-loop story. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2004-05-04 7:20:53 PM |
| #23 I am sure the pilot is glad he didn't let Kerry test the weapons. The riccochet might have hit something delicate, and brought down the plane (See the post about Purple Heart #1) |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-04 6:53:34 PM |
| #22 AP, during 2nd class summer, all midshipmen take a trip to Groton, Quantico and Pensacola to get a look at the non-surface warfare options for service. During this trips you get brought up in some kind of aircraft or helicopter and are given the stick. In that type of situation I have never heard of a novice being given the stick during take-off or aerobatic maneuvers. Is this whole scenario likely? |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-05-04 6:11:16 PM |
| #21 "Senator, you’d better turn faster, you’re going over Egypt." "I don't make mistakes, that SOB secret service agent distracted me. And if you ever tell anyone I flew in this plane, I'll say that Teresa owned it, not me. Now get me on the ground, I'm late for my haircut." |
| Posted by: sludj 2004-05-04 6:05:09 PM |
| #20 GreatBear are you joking? I hope so. You can't be serious. Tell all the National Guard troops in Iraq and Afghanistan that they are skipping out. You are foolish. |
| Posted by: Yosemite Sam 2004-05-04 6:03:40 PM |
| #19 Oh, oooops, re #14. Hattip to Drudge. :) |
| Posted by: cingold 2004-05-04 5:57:53 PM |
| #18 I'm impressed with Kaptain Krosswind Kerry's derring-do with flying right seat in someone elses bird. Aluminum ships and wooden men, heh heh. What a maroon! |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-05-04 5:51:37 PM |
| #17 Never mind - Jen - You said it, Thanks |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-04 5:45:17 PM |
| #16 Love it, cingold! Bwahahahahahahaha!!! |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-05-04 5:44:13 PM |
| #15 Wrong, "Great" "Bear"--As a National Guard pilot, President Bush requested Vietnam duty and was turned down because the war was ramping down and the plane he was qualified for wasn't being used for Vietnam missions. Do some research! And before the WOT began, we usually lost servicemen who were killed piloting jet aircraft Statesside, just like Lt. Bush. He risked his life every time he flew. Just like Kerry did in combat. And had he been killed, it would have been in service to his country, same as every other soldier, so... FOAD. |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-05-04 5:42:49 PM |
#14 Those who want to try to put sKerry head to head with the C-I-C on the military service thing should be careful (oooops, too late) . . . they may get what they’ve wished for. Enter, the doctor (EFL): Kerry Purple Heart Doc Speaks Out
bahahahahawha |
| Posted by: cingold 2004-05-04 5:42:22 PM |
| #13 "The "AWOL from the National Guard" charges aren’t getting any more traction with the voters. So if you can’t discredit President Bush on his service record, copy him. I’ll bet Mr. Kerry soon will admit he used to clear brush from the hillside of his wife’s villa too." Umm...riiiiiight. Kerry fought in the Vietnam War. It's not like he tried to skip out by joining the National Guard or something. Kerry only brought up the "AWOL from the National Guard" because the Bush camp questioned his service in Vietnam. You see, the difference between John Kerry and George W. Bush is that Kerry is a veteran who served the country. Bush served in the national guard to skip going to Vietnam. Only if he had served today...maybe he'd know what the fighting's actually like by actually having to fight in Iraq. |
| Posted by: GreatBear 2004-05-04 5:31:48 PM |
| #12 Count me in, Laurence and Jen! I'd take out a loan if necessary to afford the ticket. Hey, we could pay off the national debt with this.... |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-05-04 5:02:07 PM |
| #11 If he flys that Isralei jet upside down, how does he drive that SUV. "Clear the streets, the Senator is passing this way soon. . ." |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-04 4:59:55 PM |
| #10 Laurence, terrif idea! ROFL... I'd buy a ticket to that one! |
| Posted by: Jen 2004-05-04 4:54:43 PM |
| #9 Perhaps Bush should challenge him to a dogfight. Let's just see how well Kerry can fly a jet. |
| Posted by: Laurence of the Rats 2004-05-04 4:39:39 PM |
| #8 Is it 72 or 73 flips that make a flop? |
| Posted by: .com 2004-05-04 3:07:31 PM |
| #7 Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound! Carl in N.H. is right. Also, "aerobatics" aint easy. a loop is harder than one would think. There is a very big risk of stalling. Maybe he just did a half roll and flew upside down. Or if you prefer, ass-up. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2004-05-04 3:05:23 PM |
| #6 Oh by the way, Al-Aska Paul can confirm this, *flying* a plane is easy, it's the damn landing part that gets difficult... |
| Posted by: Carl in N.H 2004-05-04 2:57:55 PM |
| #5 On local NPR this AM, discussing the pros/cons of the Dems having the convention in Boston this year, the Dem consultant, referring to Kerry, accidentally said "Dukakis", then quickly corrected himself. Laughingly says to the interviewer, "haha, you're not going to air that, right?" Well, they did. |
| Posted by: Carl in N.H 2004-05-04 2:56:48 PM |
| #4 Hey - Kerry himself is a little upside down, so by flying the plane upside down, he becomes rightside-up RIGHT? |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-05-04 2:52:21 PM |
| #3 lol watch him get caught out on this one too, bet it turns out he just took a private jet from A to B in Israel and got to sit in the co-pilots chair,what a fool. |
| Posted by: Shep UK 2004-05-04 2:37:13 PM |
| #2 MHW -- Remember, it's KERRY. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-05-04 2:35:42 PM |
| #1 "...to see it all upside down was the perfect way to see the Middle East and Israel" huh? |
| Posted by: mhw 2004-05-04 2:26:08 PM |