E366: F-15, F-16, F/A-18: A Fighter Pilot's Rules for a Life Worth Flying

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Kyle Skylaski had never been on an airplane — not even as a passenger — until his senior year of high school. A local orchardist flew him across Washington in a Cessna 172 so he could make a state playoff baseball game. He got there as the game started, changed in the car, and hit a three-run homer off a future big leaguer to win it.

That flight sent him to the Air Force Academy and into 23 years in the cockpit: F-15s at Holloman, F-16s as an aggressor during the fall of the Soviet Union, an exchange tour with the Navy in the F/A-18, and later a modified 727 as a test pilot for Raytheon.

In episode 366 we get into what sports actually teaches you about flying, why leadership is service and nothing else, the three C's every team needs, what it feels like at Mach 2 versus 300 feet and nine miles a minute, losing seven friends early in his career and what it changed about how he takes risk, and where electric and hybrid training aircraft might actually make sense.

Kyle's book, The Sky Less Traveled: The Maverick Life of Leadership, Resilience, and the Pursuit of Purpose, is on Amazon now, with the audiobook coming this fall.

In this episode: first flight over the Cascades • Air Force Academy football and gliders • pilot training at Laughlin, where half the class washed out • F-15 vs F-16 vs F/A-18 • the aggressor years • flying the 727 as a test pilot • the squadron bar, call signs, and crud • three things he'd tell anyone starting over