If you’d like a concise opinion on an aviation-related event, ask a fighter pilot. I asked former F/A-18 pilot, Trevor Hartsock, for his take on five 2023 happenings.
Hartsock flew both the legacy F/A-18 Hornet and the Super Hornet in the Navy and Navy Reserve. He also flew with the Malaysian Air Force as a Boeing Instructor Pilot before a final move to the Air Force Reserve where he flew T-38s.
He’s taken his broad experience to YouTube where he breaks down current aviation events on his own channel and with fellow former fighter pilot and YouTuber, C.W. Lemoine. Hartsock (callsign “Gonky”) says the past year has provided a wealth of news to choose from, much of which I’ve also written about here.
I asked Hartsock for his thoughts on five bits of aviation news that made the year both interesting and concerning;
F-16s To Ukraine
I asked Gonky whether he would have been surprised if told when Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022 that they would be getting Western F-16s two years later?
“No,” he says, drawing an analogy between the Ukraine War and U.S. involvement in WWII. “It reminds me of the run up to World War II. At first, we didn’t get involved. We supplied Britain with weapons and airplanes via lend-lease [the Lend-Lease Act of 1941].”
It’s a worthy historical point and Hartsock adds that the results were mixed, a likelihood in the case of transferring F-16s to the Ukrainians. “I don’t see, in any short term picture, where giving the Ukrainians F-16s is going to make much of a difference. It took the [Navy] three years to train me up to a combat flight lead.”
Nonetheless, he agrees that the Ukrainian Air Force is highly motivated and that the specter of F-16s in Ukrainian skies further dims the latitude for Russian freedom of action over its territory.
“Fat Amy” Goes Missing
One of the biggest popularly reported incidents of the year was the September crash of a Marine Corps F-35B in South Carolina which the Marines were unable to find for 48 hours, even with a viral “ask” for public assistance. As we know, the jet was finally found in Williamsburg County, South Carolina, some 60 miles from where its pilot ejected near Joint Base Charleston.
Hartsock and Lemoine (callsign “Mover”) whimsically refer to the F-35 as “Fat Amy” a nickname in use inside the military which refers to the stealth fighter’s weight and thick fuselage which wags have compared to the Fat Amy character portrayed by actress, Rebel Wilson, in the Pitch Perfect film series.
Three months on, the notable lack of news about the subsequent investigation of the incident doesn’t surprise Hartsock. “They’re trying to figure out whether [flight] procedures need to change, do they need changes in the [F-35B] software or hardware?
Likewise, the Marines need to pinpoint what made the pilot hurriedly eject over a populated area and what made the F-35B able to fly 60 further miles at low altitude without a pilot or a canopy Hartsock says. The “radio-silence” with respect to what happened is not just a reflection of whatever embarrassment the Corps suffered after being unable to locate the airplane he adds.
“We had a Super Hornet crash in my [Navy] squadron. I’ve been involved in a couple of these [mishap investigations], I’ve been that guy assigned to a case. It can be frustrating when speculation gets out. It can undermine your work. I understand why they’re tight-lipped about it. But we will find out what happened, I just don’t know when.”
The MiG-23 Whose Backseater Punched
While putting on a display at an airshow at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, Michigan on August 13, the airplane was the only privately flown MiG-23 Flogger in the world crashed. Its crew got out and no one on the ground was hurt but there was and remains a lack of clarity about whether they needed to eject, a decision apparently made by the backseater, not the pilot.
Hartsock, who has flown and instructed in two-seat Hornets and Super Hornets says the apparent confusion over the need to eject and the decision-making is eyebrow-raising.
“My take on it is that the backseater who did an interview on YouTube shortly after the accident raises some red flags,” he says.
“Number one, he’s out speaking about it right away on YouTube. Red flag number two is that he remembers everything in his account [of the accident]… but when they asked if he was the one who pulled the ejection handle, he can’t remember. I’ve never ejected from a plane but I grabbed the handle once because I thought I was going to have to. I clearly remember making that decision because my life passed before my eyes.”
The MiG backseater has little fighter experience and is not an instructor pilot Hartsock points out. Meanwhile the aircraft’s pilot – another former navy fighter pilot – has remained mum.
“Him not speaking speaks volumes,” Hartsock concludes. “I think when the official [NTSB report] comes out, it’ll be ‘interesting”.
The B-21 Takes Flight
The much-anticipated B-21 Raider stealth bomber took flight for the first time in early November, heralding what may be a new era for manned bombers despite the advance of technology. If a recent thinktank essay on the aircraft is accurate, the bomber looks smaller to radar than an insect and has the ability to penetrate and linger in Chinese airspace.
Are bombers back? Are we in a new throwback age wherein the “bomber will always get through” as was the mid-1930s cliche’ I asked Hartsock.
“Are bombers back? I don’t think they ever left. A bomber has its place like a tanker or a fighter plane. I believe there’s always a time and a place for a straight B-52.”
As for the Raider, he observes that, “Any offensive or defensive use of an asset like that is going to be in concert with other [tactical] layers. But it sounds like a very capable airplane. I’m sure it has capabilities we haven’t even realized yet.”
An Iranian Tomcat Escorts Putin
On December 6, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare trip outside Russia to the Middle East to meet with UAE and Saudi leaders. Flying in the Presidential Il-96 transport, he crossed Iranian airspace on the way. There, his airplane and its four Su-35S Flanker escorts were met by an Iranian Air Force F-14 Tomcat.
The potent American symbol of the Cold War with the Soviet Union ironically, honored and “protected” the dictator courtesy of the Iranian regime which has flown, fought, and maintained the aged fighters (acquired from the U.S. in the mid 1970s when the Shah of Iran was still in power) for four-plus decades.
“I think that was probably the only ‘up’ airplane they had that day,” Gonky jokes, “The good old Grumman Iron Works F-14… They probably [urinated] in the gas tank, it lit off and they were like, ‘Let’s Go!”
Hartsock says flying one of the 40 to 42 remaining F-14s in its fleet (Iran received 79 from the U.S.) was possibly a symbolic Iranian “middle finger” to America as Putin took the stage while his war of choice in Ukraine was playing out. The sight probably delighted the Russian president as well.
“If I was Putin, I’d be laughing about that,” Hartsock says. The Iranians’ ability to keep the venerable Tomcats flying is oddly impressive he adds though he points out that “keeping an airplane flying and keeping it mission-capable are two different things.”
“When I was an active-duty Hornet guy, we dove into the Iranian Tomcat capability. It was pretty much no different than what you see today. What was super high-tech in 1972 might be [re-producable] today with a 3D printer and an iPhone!”
As to whether he would consider taking a seat in the cockpit Gonky didn’t say, though he sympathized with the Tomcat Iranian crews. “I’m not sure they have a choice. They’re probably told to go fly and they go fly.”
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