In article <mCAEh.3582$B25.1185@news01.roc.ny>,
"JoeSpareBedroom" <dishborealis@yahoo.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
> "Scott in Florida" <askifyouwant@mindspring.net> wrote in message
> news:ufn4u2tcs3titah5p94jo7vaggmf6vvs91@4ax.com...[color=green]
> > On Sun, 25 Feb 2007 15:31:52 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
> > <dishborealis@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >[color=darkred]
> >>Bush dresses up in a flight suit, pretends to be a pilot[/color]
> >
> > Bush is a pilot.
> >
> > What are you?
> > Scott in Florida[/color]
>
>
> So many years after training, he's certainly NOT a pilot. My father flew
> torpedo bombers in WWII. 15 years later, he didn't claim to be a pilot.
>
> Bush was just puttin' on airs. Pretending to be something he's not, a second
> time. First: Presidential material. Second: A pilot. Third: "I'm a war
> president!"[/color]
For Bush to fly in this type of aircraft it is mandatory they wear full
flight gear. This is not a passenger airplane. Here is the CNN story
from May 1, 2003. Read carefully at the end of the article where it is
mentioned regarding end of major operations and that it is not a
declaration of victory.
ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CNN) -- When President Bush arrives
Thursday aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, he will be
sitting in the co-pilot's seat of a U.S. Navy aircraft.
The plane will make what is known as a "tailhook" landing in which the
craft, traveling at about 150 mph, hooks onto a steel wire across the
flight deck and comes to a stop in less than 400 feet.
The Navy and White House have not disclosed what type plane Bush will
use, but a senior White House aide told CNN it would be a Navy S-3B
Viking, a four-seat turbofan jet that performs targeting and
surveillance functions for naval carrier groups.
Bush will deliver a speech to the nation from the deck of the ship at 9
p.m. EDT Thursday to announce the end of major combat in Iraq. (Full
story)
The Lincoln, en route to San Diego, has been at sea for nine months
after participating in both the Afghanistan and Iraq war theaters. The
president is scheduled to spend the night on the carrier, which is based
in Everett, Washington, but is stopping in San Diego, California, first.
Bush will fly to Naval Air Station North Island near San Diego aboard
Air Force One, before getting aboard what's being called "Navy One" for
the flight to the carrier, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer
said Wednesday.
Bush is a former F-102 fighter pilot with the Texas Air National Guard
and his father, former President George H.W. Bush, flew a combat fighter
while stationed on an aircraft carrier during World War II.
Capt. Kevin Albright, commander of the Lincoln's Airwing 14, said Bush
would be equipped with an air sickness bag, but he doubted the president
will need it.
"I suspect [with] his previous flight experience, he'll do just fine,"
Albright told CNN.
Bush was an F-102 fighter pilot in the Texas Air National Guard after
graduating from Yale University in 1968.
There will be two experienced pilots aboard the Navy plane. "We picked
two mature pilots that also are very good landers," Albright said.
Albright said Bush could fly the plane en route to the carrier if he so
desires.
"I imagine he will. He's an old fighter pilot," he said. "It shouldn't
take a very long time, but I imagine if he wants to fly around a little
bit, it'll take a little longer. We'll have a ready deck when he gets
here."
Fleischer called it a "very exciting voyage, a very exciting trip."
"For the sake of the landing, I'm sure he will be doing no piloting," he
said.
The ship's 5,500 sailors are excited about the presidential trip.
"It's a momentous occasion. I've been on eight deployments, and we've
never had a president come out and welcome us home. So, it's a pretty
big event for the airwing and the ship crew," Albright said.
Fleischer said the carrier would be more than 100 miles off the
California coast at the time Bush addresses the nation.
"He will address the nation just as he did at the beginning of the
combat," Fleischer told reporters. "He will address it now as the major
combat operations have ended to mark the importance of this moment."
The address will not be a victory speech, and Fleischer said U.S. forces
still face dangers from "pockets of resistance."
"It is not the legal end of hostilities," Fleischer said.
The Lincoln's flight deck spans 4.5 acres, and the ship can power enough
electricity for 100,000 homes. Among the aircraft aboard the carrier is
the F/A-18E Super Hornet, the Navy's sophisticated strike fighter.
--
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