- My next guest is only seven years old,
but her dream is to be an Air Force Thunderbird,
just like her hero Major Michelle Curran.
A few weeks ago I gave her the surprise of her life.
Check it out!
My next guest has been flying since she was two.
Her dream is to be an elite pilot.
Major Michelle Curran is here,
come on out!
(upbeat music)
- Hi.
Oh my Gosh! - Oh my goodness!
- In two days, you're gonna come to work with me.
- Ooh!
- And you're gonna be a Thunderbird for a day.
(Kelly laughing)
- Thank you.
- Well, her dream came true.
Amelia got to be a Thunderbird for a day.
Here to tell us all about it,
please welcome back,
seven year old Amelia, ya'll.
(studio audience cheers and applause)
So Amelia,
what was the coolest part of doing this?
- Spending time with her the whole time.
- Yeah, oh my gosh! You're--
I want my kids to say that.
All right, so did you get to actually get in the jet?
- No, but I did to see all the buttons
'cause I'm not old enough to fly them yet,
so I have to like look in it.
- [Kelly] You are young.
- [Amelia] Yes, I am.
- [Kelly] They didn't let you fly it?
That's so weird.
- I know. I was hoping they would.
- She-- look at her.
(Kelly laughing)
There's definitely liability issues there.
I can promise you.
So you had your own jet though, right?
That you got to sit--
or at least sit in and see the buttons and everything.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- And it had my name on it and my last--
- [Kelly] What?!
Oh my gosh!
That is gonna be the coolest picture
when you're like a real Thunderbird,
like when you're older. - Yeah.
- You're gonna be like, "Look, I knew it."
(everyone laughing)
On that bold.
I hear you got to kick a door.
- Yes.
- What does that mean?
- It's a Thunderbird tradition,
when they come to walk out they karate kick the doors and--
- What?
- [Amelia] Before they go fly out,
it's a tradition for the Thunderbirds.
- Okay. Does everybody have their own kick?
Or are they all the same?
- It's only the boss's kick door.
- Oh man, you gotta earn the kick?
- I get to do it since I was there on the base.
- That's what I'm talking about.
That's what I'm talking about.
Was your kick pretty good?
- Yeah!
- [Kelly] Yeah.
All right, so Anya you have a question.
Okay, Anya has a question.
How did you feel when you met Mace?
- It felt my dream 'cause she was always my
best thing in the world.
- [Kelly] Like your idol. - [Amelia] Yes.
- [Kelly] For what you want to do.
- Yeah.
- [Kelly] Isn't that Michelle Curran?
That's her like, ya'll have names like Goose and Maverick,
you're too young for that movie, but whatever.
(studio audience laughing)
But the like Top Gun, ya'll have--
they all have like nicknames, right?
- Yeah.
- Did ya'll ever wanna be a pilot?
Like growing up, did ya'll ever have a dream like that?
- I actually wanted to be a firefighter,
which is weird because (laughs)
- Which is weird.
Dream come true. - A fireman. Yeah.
- I want to be a pilot right now.
- Yeah.
- But I can't do all of that.
You have to--
It's a lot of hour-- - You have to have--
You have to have four years of high school.
You have to have four years of--
- I think she just said, you're too old for that.
(Kelly and studio audience laughing)
I think we just got aged.
But anyway, okay Anya, I got you.
Prompter, all right.
So unfortunately Major Michelle Curran could not be here
because she's on mission with the Air Force,
but she wanted to send Amelia a special video.
Take a look.
- Hey Amelia. Hey Kelly.
I'm really sorry I can't be there in person today.
Our team has been super busy
getting ready for the 2020 season.
We've been training, flying twice a day,
so that we can head off
and do 60 demonstrations all over the country and in Canada.
Really such an honor to meet you and spend a day with you.
I got to come out and be a pilot for a day,
meet the rest of our team, try out our gear,
and my favorite part of the day was when
we got to surprise you with your name on your very own F-16.
It was such an honor to meet you.
I'm so inspired by what you're doing.
I know that you're inspired by me,
but it really goes both ways.
For such a young age,
you have such determination and such vision.
And I just can't wait to see what you do in the future.
- Yeah!
(studio audience cheers)
That talk about you, she talk about you.