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Lessons From The Cockpit


Feb 15, 2023

Welcome to the fifty-fourth episode of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. I've waited to post this one because so much aviation history is happening over the US!

Over the last weekend in Joint military operations, US Air Force F-22 Raptors and F-16C Vipers shot down the Chinese Spy Balloon and three additional objects, one over Lake Huron with an interesting description.  This episode contains the audio from the Spy Balloon shoot-down on 4 Feb and the object "decommissioned" on Sunday 12 Feb. A lot of questions I raise are still unanswered, like where did these last three objects come from and why did one of our most high tech air-to-air missiles miss on Sunday. Many of these questions will be answered when the payload and objects are recovered.

Here are four links to the audio and video of the intercepts found on YouTube:

F-22 and HUNTRESS audio from balloon shoot down.  

The long version of Spy Balloon shoot down audio. Still pretty scratchy but easy to make it out.

Audio of the F-16s Octagonal object shoot down over Lake Huron.

The best video I've found of the Spy Balloon shoot down I mention in the podcast.

The Lessons from the Cockpit podcast is sponsored by Wall Pilot, custom aviation art for the walls of your home, office, or hanger. 

The F-22A Raptor is arguably the best fifth-generation fighter on the planet. A four, six, or eight-foot-long print of a Hawaii Air National Guard F-22 can be purchased here.

The F-22s were supported by F-15Cs from the Massachusetts Air National Guard carrying SNIPER targeting pods on their centerline station. The 44th Fighter Squadron flies in the same configuration... AIM-120C AMRAAMs, AIM-9X Sidewinders, and the SNIPER pod.

The F-16C Fighting Falcon has several air-to-air kills before this past weekend. F-16 prints of the 4th FS Fuujins and The Wraith from the 64th Aggressor Squadron are also available.

I really do appreciate all of you downloading and listening to this and previous episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast. All episodes of the Lessons from the Cockpit podcast are found on my Mark Hasara website under the Podcast pulldown tab.

Look forward to talking with you next week... who knows what will happen this week!