-I just -- I want to fly. That's my passion.
So, to be out of the cockpit, it's not where I want to be.
I want to be in the cockpit, flying with my brothers.
It was a crystal-clear day.
Weather couldn't have been any better.
We have a four ship of F-16s
that we're planning on flying up to Indiantown Gap
to the range that we fly at,
and we were doing an air-to-ground mission,
conventional air-to-ground.
-I can't remember what the problem
was with one of the airplanes,
but I was supposed to fly 306, the mishap aircraft,
and because of a limitation of one of the other airplanes,
I took a less-capable jet.
I swapped with Captain Morgan that morning.
Little did I know that that was going to be the mishap aircraft.
-We line up and take off.
I was number two in the four ship.
-I've flown that departure a number of times.
Captain Morgan had only flown it,
I think, once or twice before.
But he was the youngest guy in the squadron,
and that was one of the other reasons
that I was flying with him.
-We were taking off to the north,
and when you take off to the north
and you're heading to the west,
you need to make a pretty aggressive left-hand turn
to the west
because you want to stay out of the restricted airspace over DC.
And I have my flight lead in sight,
and I'm starting to rejoin on him
when I realize my jet is accelerating faster than normal.
-He said, "I've got an engine problem."
My jet's single engine quits on me.
-Number 3 realizes that number 2 is on fire.
-So, I had uncontrollable acceleration,
my engine gave out on me, and I have a fire.
So, I jettison my two external fuel tanks over the Potomac,
and I start trying to troubleshoot the fire
to try to extinguish the fire.
-Number 2, Captain Morgan,
relays to us that his aircraft is disabled to the point
that he doesn't think that he's gonna be able to make it home.
-I realize that I'm not able
to glide back to Andrews with no engine.
-So, now we're starting to go through pre-ejection checklists.
-I have a wife at home, so thought about her.
But other than that, just didn't have much time
to think of much else.
I needed to get out of the jet before I went down with it.
-It's almost surreal to watch an airplane
start disassembling itself like a Transformer in flight.
-So, I look for the nearest open field
that I think I can glide to.
I'm just below the altitude that I want to eject at.
And then, right before I pull the handle,
I just said, "I love you, Katie."
And so I eject.
-You see the ejection seat go.
You see the canopy flying off.
I think, "Holy cow, something is going to get hit on the ground,
potentially someone."
-It was so violent and quick and aggressive.
I was under the chute before I even knew it.
The aircraft nosedived down into the ground
just off to the left side of the open field
that I actually parachuted into.
Yeah, it was a total loss.
So, I got on the radio,
and I was talking to them on the radio,
letting them know that I was okay.
-He was back. Had gone to the hospital.
Picked up from the helicopter in an ambulance,
driven to a hospital, been checked out by the doctors,
and was back here in the squad room by the time I landed,
an hour and 10 minutes after.
-Fortunately, no one got hurt,
and that was the highlight of my day, that no one got hurt.
-But he was there with his wife. He's smiling.
I say, "How are you feeling? Are you okay?"
And he says, "Yeah, I'm ready to go fly again."
-But yeah, it's a carnival ride for sure, I'll tell you.